Where has ‘Freedom 251’, World’s Cheapest Smartphone, Gone?

If you are among those who pre-booked the world's cheapest smartphone at Rs 251 (less than $4) and are yet to hear from its Noida-based makers, you are not alone. The promise of delivering "nearly 200,000 Freedom 251 handsets" has fallen flat and most people who booked the handset are yet to see one.

After that, no new numbers have been shared and it appears the initial hype has fizzled out. Is this the biggest tech disappointment of 2016, despite Freedom 251 making national and global headlines throughout the year?

In an earlier interview with IANS, Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel said if the government was willing to dole out Rs 50,000 crore (about $7.5 billion), he can ensure that 750 million of our population would become part of digital India by owning a smartphone at Rs 251. "The government can make the phone - under our Freedom brand - from some other vendor. I have no objection to it. To make such phone for every Indian citizen, the government needs to allocate funds from its Digital India initiative," Goel had said.

When reached, a Ringing Bells spokesperson told IANS that the company is working on improving its reach through distributor networks but did not say a word about Freedom 251's disappearance. "Last six months have been phenomenal as we have reached 200 cities with a distributor network of 230. In this period, we have been able to widen our product base, including high-end mobiles and televisions. This year, we have sold 150,000 products and expect to get a 25 per cent increase in the coming months," the spokesperson said, declining to be named and without mentioning Freedom 251.

According to Parv Sharma, research associate at New Delhi-based Counterpoint Research, Freedom 251 raised false hopes in the people about owning a cheap smartphone.

With inputs from IANS