Freedom 251 mobile booking may have created a huge controversy across India, but now the company, Ringing Bells, is back and it says that the Rs 251 phone is now all set for deliveries. The company says that deliveries will start from June 30 and it has even held out the prospect of fresh registrations. The company claimed that it is ready with 2,00,000 smartphones in its inventory to be shipped on the 30th of this month. Freedom 251 was unveiled last February and was termed as the cheapest smartphone in the world.
It must be noted that earlier Ringing Bells had claimed shipping by June 28, but it looks like the Noida-based company has extended it by two days. “We are ready with nearly two lakh ‘Freedom 251’ handsets. We will start delivery from June 30,” Goel said, adding that once he is done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), he will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset.
Ringing Bell earlier claimed to ship 25 lakh units of Freedom 251 smartphone by June, but they slashed it down by almost 90%. The company got around 7 crore registrations on its website in the week of unveiling, which ended up crashing its website.
Ringing Bells always fought to keep media vilification out of the brand, but eventually it came under investigation by the govt. In March, Noida police had registered an FIR against Ringing Bells in a case of cheating, following a complaint filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya. The police registered the case under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC and the IT Act and owner of Ringing Bells Mohit Goel and company president Ashok Chaddha were named in the FIR. In March, Adcom also threatened legal action against Ringing Bells.
Ringing Bell’s Freedom 251 smartphones are currently being manufactured in Haridwar and the company plans to open more in Noida and Uttarakhand soon. As the new factories open, more handsets may be moiled for users, as the company claims.
(With input from Agencies)
