5 ms·

More on India’s $4 Phone

58 points by jwildeboer 11y ago

CapitalistCartr 11y ago
You can have a cheap phone, or one made solely in your country. You can't have both.
- indians_pro 11y ago
  unless ur chinese
wodenokoto 11y ago
I thought we all agreed to assume it was government subsidized.
- JTon 11y ago
  90% subsidy seems a little steep. It would likely attract the attention of re-sellers. But I don't think any one knows for sure at the moment
- jwildeboer 11y ago
  Well, the company behind the Freedom 251 says it isn't subsidised and they use "economics of scale". Sounds legit ;-) "No telecom carriers have come forward to announce their partnership with Ringing Bells, so a carrier-based subsidy is off the charts. Government subsidy was ruled out by the company at the launch event. As reported by NDTV Gadgets who were present at the launch event, Ringing Bells President Ashok Chadha confirmed that there is ‘no government subsidy’ for the Freedom 251" Source: http://www.xda-developers.com/freedom-251-why-it-is-a-3-7-android-smartphone-and-why-it-shouldnt-exist/ http://www.xda-developers.com/freedom-251-why-it-is-a-3-7-an...
  - cpcallen 11y ago
    > Well, the company behind the Freedom 251 says it isn't subsidised and they use "economics of scale". Sounds legit ;-) They might be losing money on every sale, but they'll make it up on volume...
nwah1 11y ago
Does the coltan come from India?
ck2 11y ago
BBC had a report on it yesterday that I posted but no traction. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11126398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11126398 The worst part is government officials are endorsing the phone? It is someone just trying to raise funds via preorders to try to get one made, like some kind of kickstarter and the press just ran with it?
- gravypod 11y ago
  That looks like what is happening. You have to remember that even before kickstarter people managed to scam others. Kickstarter isn't really required for that.
- vain 11y ago
  that government official in the story is murli manohar joshi. he does not know his elbow from his posterior. Joshi is an entitled superstitious hindu fanatic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND74tSqlBA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND74tSqlBA If he endorses the product, it is probably a scam
  - 1024core 11y ago
    > Joshi is an entitled superstitious hindu fanatic By that same standard, every Republican presidential candidate is a "Christian fanatic", but nobody uses that term for the Republicans.
  - sremani 11y ago
    There were no scams in the SECULAR sycophantic cult regime. Got it.
viral007 11y ago
Could this be a marketing stunt for "Make In India"?
- sremani 11y ago
  This is more like a using the state for eminent domain/land acquisition for a factory and collect perks and subsidies from government while getting debt from Public sector banks and at a later date cashing the real estate and dumping the factories etc on the Banks while making lot of cash.
sremani 11y ago
Here is the money at stake >>> "The phone will be manufactured in Noida and Uttaranchal. Two plants will be set up for Rs 250 crore (appx. 37 million USD) each with a capacity of 5 lakh phones. The money will come in the form of debt and equity (1.5:1)," he said. <<< Murali Manohar Joshi who used to be a top tier leader of the current ruling BJP attended the ceremony. So, this scam has deep collaborators. http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/freedom-251-online-booking-for-rs-251-smartphone-to-resume-today_1857010.html http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/freed...
- 1024core 11y ago
  > who used to be a top tier leader of the current ruling BJP attended the ceremony. With enough grease in the palm, any politician can be made to appear.
newsignup 11y ago
OS is supposed to be android and the browser is like safari? What!
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pratikch 11y ago
I think the whole marketing time forgot to put a '0' and now they have marketing stunt to cash in on excitement of people. :)
seshagiric 11y ago
More of a fiasco than a scam. Somewhat like Aakash tablets (they created a buzz for sub 100$ tablet 4-5 years back). What is likely going to happen is very few (if any) customers will actually get the 4$ phones. The website will never show phones in stock. After all the buzz, they may eventually come up with a more realistic 40-50$ phone.
titomc 11y ago
Notify TRAI ?

58 points by jwildeboer 11y ago

CapitalistCartr 11y ago

You can have a cheap phone, or one made solely in your country. You can't have both.

indians_pro 11y ago
unless ur chinese

wodenokoto 11y ago

I thought we all agreed to assume it was government subsidized.

JTon 11y ago
90% subsidy seems a little steep. It would likely attract the attention of re-sellers. But I don't think any one knows for sure at the moment
jwildeboer 11y ago
Well, the company behind the Freedom 251 says it isn't subsidised and they use "economics of scale". Sounds legit ;-) "No telecom carriers have come forward to announce their partnership with Ringing Bells, so a carrier-based subsidy is off the charts. Government subsidy was ruled out by the company at the launch event. As reported by NDTV Gadgets who were present at the launch event, Ringing Bells President Ashok Chadha confirmed that there is ‘no government subsidy’ for the Freedom 251" Source: http://www.xda-developers.com/freedom-251-why-it-is-a-3-7-android-smartphone-and-why-it-shouldnt-exist/ http://www.xda-developers.com/freedom-251-why-it-is-a-3-7-an...
- cpcallen 11y ago
  > Well, the company behind the Freedom 251 says it isn't subsidised and they use "economics of scale". Sounds legit ;-) They might be losing money on every sale, but they'll make it up on volume...

nwah1 11y ago

Does the coltan come from India?

ck2 11y ago

BBC had a report on it yesterday that I posted but no traction. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11126398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11126398 The worst part is government officials are endorsing the phone? It is someone just trying to raise funds via preorders to try to get one made, like some kind of kickstarter and the press just ran with it?

gravypod 11y ago
That looks like what is happening. You have to remember that even before kickstarter people managed to scam others. Kickstarter isn't really required for that.
vain 11y ago
that government official in the story is murli manohar joshi. he does not know his elbow from his posterior. Joshi is an entitled superstitious hindu fanatic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND74tSqlBA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND74tSqlBA If he endorses the product, it is probably a scam
- 1024core 11y ago
  > Joshi is an entitled superstitious hindu fanatic By that same standard, every Republican presidential candidate is a "Christian fanatic", but nobody uses that term for the Republicans.
- sremani 11y ago
  There were no scams in the SECULAR sycophantic cult regime. Got it.

viral007 11y ago

Could this be a marketing stunt for "Make In India"?

sremani 11y ago
This is more like a using the state for eminent domain/land acquisition for a factory and collect perks and subsidies from government while getting debt from Public sector banks and at a later date cashing the real estate and dumping the factories etc on the Banks while making lot of cash.

sremani 11y ago

Here is the money at stake >>> "The phone will be manufactured in Noida and Uttaranchal. Two plants will be set up for Rs 250 crore (appx. 37 million USD) each with a capacity of 5 lakh phones. The money will come in the form of debt and equity (1.5:1)," he said. <<< Murali Manohar Joshi who used to be a top tier leader of the current ruling BJP attended the ceremony. So, this scam has deep collaborators. http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/freedom-251-online-booking-for-rs-251-smartphone-to-resume-today_1857010.html http://zeenews.india.com/business/gadgets/gadgets-news/freed...

1024core 11y ago
> who used to be a top tier leader of the current ruling BJP attended the ceremony. With enough grease in the palm, any politician can be made to appear.

newsignup 11y ago

OS is supposed to be android and the browser is like safari? What!

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

pratikch 11y ago

I think the whole marketing time forgot to put a '0' and now they have marketing stunt to cash in on excitement of people. :)

seshagiric 11y ago

More of a fiasco than a scam. Somewhat like Aakash tablets (they created a buzz for sub 100$ tablet 4-5 years back). What is likely going to happen is very few (if any) customers will actually get the 4$ phones. The website will never show phones in stock. After all the buzz, they may eventually come up with a more realistic 40-50$ phone.

titomc 11y ago

Notify TRAI ?