![NG-[C:G.Prom,B:TWTW15,Wk:5015,Dim:320X50]:12:12](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_udKUCDHhBTz43rxx-Twvt1s4TjIRXsdlICG38qG70vykI2AGxoC0MQj7Y7xzKFB7ebnwasRgXYiGdPR-A_Mfv6ODLjT43BioRWgbHevQcYxJSs7VuDxGWUiWABanAbI4bhx0zZeyu8GnYUUUlFHkkIjvtUO0jLA7pfIyPy8igp_cQBD3copA=s0-d)
A little-known technology firm in India made news a few weeks ago when it announced an Android smartphone that would sell for less than $4 (Rs. 251).
While there was plenty of reason to be skeptical of this claim, the
device seemed to exist in a few video demos. After taking reservations
for the device over several days, Ringing Bells abruptly stopped, citing
high demand. That’s about the time Indian government officials started
looking more closely at the company. Now, one Indian MP is calling the
phone a “ponzi scam.”
A ponzi scheme is a specific type of financial fraud where new victims are used to fund payouts to older ones. It’s not clear exactly what evidence MP Kirit Somaiya has that points in this direction, but he’s confident enough to take things public. The phone was given an air of legitimacy at the announcement by the presence of another MP, one Murli Manohar Joshi. The specs provided for the phone were low-end enough that you could almost believe the device was going to essentially be given away.
The device was said to feature a 4-inch qHD (960×540) LCD, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, a 1,450mAh battery, and a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. Not exactly the fastest phone on the market, but good enough to run a few apps. Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence to emerge since the phone’s announcement is the branding on the demo device. You might notice there’s a white smudge on the face of the phone in many of the photos. That’s actually whiteout covering the “Adcom” branding.
So what is Adcom? It’s a Chinese smartphone maker that builds very low-cost devices. The Freedom 251 is a good match for the Adcom Ikon 4, which indeed has many of the same specs. This makes the last-minute change of the device renders on the Ringing Bells website all the more suspicious. When contacted about its role in the Freedom 251, Adcom denied it built the phone. That’s definitely the Ikon 4 chassis, though, so what’s going on?
From what I can tell, the Ikon 4 is a particularly sketchy phone that is sold throughout Asia for about Rs. 3600 ($50). Many of the promo photos of this phone simply have an iPod touch UI photoshopped in, which is particularly weird. Basically, Adcom is not a reputable company. They are either being dishonest about building the Freedom 251, or someone in the company sold some components to Ringing Bells that they probably should not have. The latter is actually the less troubling option.
If the Freedom 251 is just the Ikon 4, Ringing Bells would have some explaining to do. The Freedom 251 is supposed to be built mostly in India to reduce costs, according to the company’s president. Whether or not this is a scam in unclear, but it’s at least a very poorly planned launch.
A ponzi scheme is a specific type of financial fraud where new victims are used to fund payouts to older ones. It’s not clear exactly what evidence MP Kirit Somaiya has that points in this direction, but he’s confident enough to take things public. The phone was given an air of legitimacy at the announcement by the presence of another MP, one Murli Manohar Joshi. The specs provided for the phone were low-end enough that you could almost believe the device was going to essentially be given away.
The device was said to feature a 4-inch qHD (960×540) LCD, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, a 1,450mAh battery, and a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. Not exactly the fastest phone on the market, but good enough to run a few apps. Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence to emerge since the phone’s announcement is the branding on the demo device. You might notice there’s a white smudge on the face of the phone in many of the photos. That’s actually whiteout covering the “Adcom” branding.
So what is Adcom? It’s a Chinese smartphone maker that builds very low-cost devices. The Freedom 251 is a good match for the Adcom Ikon 4, which indeed has many of the same specs. This makes the last-minute change of the device renders on the Ringing Bells website all the more suspicious. When contacted about its role in the Freedom 251, Adcom denied it built the phone. That’s definitely the Ikon 4 chassis, though, so what’s going on?
From what I can tell, the Ikon 4 is a particularly sketchy phone that is sold throughout Asia for about Rs. 3600 ($50). Many of the promo photos of this phone simply have an iPod touch UI photoshopped in, which is particularly weird. Basically, Adcom is not a reputable company. They are either being dishonest about building the Freedom 251, or someone in the company sold some components to Ringing Bells that they probably should not have. The latter is actually the less troubling option.
If the Freedom 251 is just the Ikon 4, Ringing Bells would have some explaining to do. The Freedom 251 is supposed to be built mostly in India to reduce costs, according to the company’s president. Whether or not this is a scam in unclear, but it’s at least a very poorly planned launch.
![NG-[C:G.Vide,B:Allbrand,Wk:5015,Dim:160X600]:Televisions](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uiXOsrS6QukaV1dFkkJUOPRt2liOvnFB9BkyYVCIi3G9qeXBvNdSsI34OW5oWeMxtHlO537HM4eEnYT4k1FVQ734nTmu1qsgs7mFamqzJSuOf6CfBuS6Jvl_oFMrFHrsNosh3c4At4JQgFLE9X29_YElV0dMdt2iNIkvEngFFXfmNntqz49Q=s0-d)
![NG-[C:G.Comp,B:Allbrand,Wk:5015,Dim:336X280]:Tablets](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sH_Bwkiw4XZgQeMzAA3mz655hsNhrKNQYd3s41daYTSxMMdYu9ssvnCtw1FyGLOuaVd4vxkJ1_ohwUzsN46B1S6CS1qxUmj6DCZ8Idce1yy1a4jcoj4e-4tw-5mxBIHCAEjIK3fA6U4rFcogZwaH168raHw4eXbyP7nmqyIEJkNWV38dcq6w=s0-d)
![NG-[C:G.Prom,B:Allbrand,Wk:4915,Dim:300X250]:Home_Page](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u2LoRv6F0FgGF4AUJa18dC56Fqe4SZHq-LjC2W_SP9OJipNBhAiBVW8I2iKrPY3E-evk3G1BoKRTggCqsiOA9TlrIcgOV7UTw9BV2hGFW6AjFmz-dqb9puzbKbHq5Xgu-GA0QF8ibAQu512TXoCtC7MqatAoAWjJwLNsZhzG1YEVH_YMdS9Q=s0-d)
0 comments:
Post a Comment