Twitterati troll Rs 251 smartphone, question manufacturer

Series of pictures tweeted showing phone made by Adcom

With buyers waking up early Thursday to utter chaos at the online sales of Ringing Bells’ Rs 251 smartphone Freedom 251, it wasn’t long before the company came under fire from gadget reviewers and tech journalists.

In the vanguard was Vishal Mathur's tweet, which sought to ‘expose’ the "reality of Rs 251 phone". Mathur tweeted a series of pictures which showed the Freedom251 phone to have been made by ADCOM, whose logo was hidden under a layer of what seemed like correction fluid. 

Reality of the Rs251 phone. Made by someone else. Hide name. Sell as ur own. #Freedom251 So much for a "revolution". pic.twitter.com/xpGaIPlLe7

— Vishal Mathur (@vishalmathur85) February 18, 2016

 

And we unveil the name of the real manufacturer of the #Freedom251 phone! pic.twitter.com/XWBdWFFOGm

— Vishal Mathur (@vishalmathur85) February 18, 2016

NDTV gadget guru Rajiv Makhni too had a similar experience to share.

#Freedom251 Imp Questions. The Freedom 251 sample phone comes with an Adcom branding Why? (2/7) pic.twitter.com/eROfjlnj6p

— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) February 18, 2016

#Freedom251 Imp Questions.Same Adcom phone selling on Flipkart Rs 4000. Then how is this one priced at Rs 251? 3/7 pic.twitter.com/0NoRnD8d7N

— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) February 18, 2016

Makhni also went on to raise a series of questions against Freedom251, the first one being on everybody's mind:

#Freedom251 . Interesting Phone but raises many questions. Lets start with a few here. 1.Payment system already crashed today morning? 1/7

— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) February 18, 2016

#Freedom251 Imp Q's. Obviously this is a subsidised phone. But who is subsidising the price-government or the company, Ringing Bells? 4/7

— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) February 18, 2016

#Freedom251 Imp Q's. If this is subsidised, then isnt it against Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices? (5/7)

— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) February 18, 2016

Meanwhile, Twitterati are having a field day trolling Ringing Bells.

#Freedom251 ..Trying to open and result (*&@#*&^! pic.twitter.com/yBvIXZVOei

— RJV (@RJV4U) February 18, 2016

Two minutes of silence for those who woke up early in the morning to book #Freedom251 smartphone :P ???? pic.twitter.com/mX4zzcxcvO

— Zaid ;) (@iam_zaid) February 18, 2016

Legends:

Sachin scored 100 Centuries

AB Scored 31 Balls Century

Bradman averaged 99.94

Those who ordered mobile today#Freedom251

— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) February 18, 2016

Yesterday:
I will buy 5 mobile
I will buy 10 mobile
I will buy 50 mobils

Today
How can I buy at leaset one mobile?#Freedom251

— Bobgally (@Krishnan_Masi) February 18, 2016

There were others, too, who had raised concerns even before the phone was launched.  
 

The Indian Cellualar Association (ICA) has written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying the price of the Freedom 251 smartphone could not be below Rs 3,500 even after subsidies. The ICA has expressed its concerns over what is being called 'India's most affordable smartphone', saying that it is not appropriate for the senior political and government leadership to be present at the launch till the air around the pricing is cleared.  

In the letter, ICA national president Pankaj Mohindroo wrote "The bill of material (BOM) value for a product like this when sourced from the cheapest supply chain cost approximately USD 40 (Rs 2,700). And this, when translated into retail price after addition of applicable duties, taxes and with distribution and retail margins would be at least Rs 4,100 while the product is being sold at Rs 251."

He pointed out that even if the product is sold at lower margins in an e-commerce type subsidised sale, the final consumer price cannot come below $52-55 (about Rs.3,500-3,800).  

The lack of any visible mobile operator subsidy involved in the launch either has been flagged by Mohindroo.