Abstract

Ringing Bells, a little known mobile phone company in India, launched its flagship product, ‘Freedom 251’, an Android mobile phone, at a breakthrough price of Rs 251 (less than US$4). The company claimed that it could offer this feature rich phone at such a low price as it had a unique business model that reduced costs at various levels. The company stated that it aimed to support the ‘Digital India’ vision of the Government of India through the launch of the smartphone. But the device soon came under a cloud of controversies with widespread skepticism raised about its price and sustainability. The company soon came became the subject of scrutiny of the regulators, as the tech community questioned its unrealistic pricing and accusing it of perpetrating a fraud. However, the company vowed to keep its promise of continuing with the project and delivering the handsets at the promised prices. Whether it could keep its word remained to be seen.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the issues and challenges in pricing.
• Understand how Ringing Bells could price its smartphone so incredibly low.
• Discuss and debate Ringing Bells’ strategy.
• Understand the challenges faced by the company going forward and explore the ways in which it can overcome the challenges.

Keywords

Pricing, Pricing strategies, Managerial Economics, Digital inclusion, Ethics, Freedom 251, Smartphone