Ringing Bells has appealed to the Government of India to help them fulfill his novel endeavour of bringing modern day electronic devices within the reach of every Indian. This comes just before as the company prepares for its launch event on Thursday. The Noida-based company wants the Government to support their “work for millions” venture to deliver their smartphones to people who can’t own such phones.
How is the cost price of Freedom 251 being recovered?
Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel has claimed that in the early stage, he was losing Rs. 930 for each handset whose cost price amounted to Rs. 1,180 after importing parts from Taiwan. He managed to recover Rs. 700 to Rs. 800 through ad revenues and sponsored app installations. But, even then he is expecting a loss of around Rs. 180 to Rs. 270 per handset after selling the phone for Rs. 251.
The first batch of ‘Freedom 251’ handsets will be going to be delivered from 8th July with a total payment of Rs. 291 (includes Rs. 40 delivery charge). The first batch will consist of 5,000 devices, says Goel.
Ringing Bells plans to convince the Government of India
“In order to digitally empower every Indian, if I can get government support under the Digital India programme, I can ensure timely delivery of ‘Freedom 251’ phone to all citizens at the same price,” Goel told IANS.
Goel has huge ambition. He promises to sell 750 million Freedom 251 smartphone at Rs. 251 if he gets Rs. 50,000 crore funding from the Government.
Ringing Bells have sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s office on June 28th requesting a meeting with the Narendra Modi. The company wants to explain its venture and highlight the difficulties and request for government’s support to spread the use of smartphones to every corner of India.
Being a little more realistic, Goel said that he also ready if the government can get his phone manufactured by some other vendor without directly handing him money. This time, to keep the launch event free from controversy, Goel has decided not to invite any political personality to the event.
Future Plans of Ringing Bells
Goel plans to make a software called “WhiteCloud”, identical to iCloud to provide 100 new apps online exclusively for the Freedom 251 users and charge Re. 1 to Rs. 3 per app.
After successfully completing the delivery of 5000 Handsets, Goel will process further after getting feedback from the customers. He has also claimed that 500 service centres are ready across India to service the Freedom 251 handset.
Ringing Bells will pull the curtains off India’s cheapest 32-inch High-Definition TV under its Freedom brand at an event tomorrow.
