Bad start for Freedom 251: Website crashes, copyright issues crop up and people mob its office

New Delhi The muchhyped launch of the worlds cheapest ldquoMade in Indiardquo smartphone was thrown into disarray on Thursday as a mad rush to book the Rs251 less than 4 device caused the firms website to crash within hours of opening up for preordersBesides utter chaos at the companys Noidabased head office there were also reports of copyright infringementsFreedom 251 smartphoneNow mired in controversy for the alleged copying of Apple iPhone icon design and appearance nearly six lakh hits per second left Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd with no option but to shut the online prebooking offer within hours of opening the registration with a promise to reinstate the booking within 24 hoursDespite several tries during the day to place an order for a smartphone on wwwfreedom251com the payment gateway remained elusive for people and the website finally went downA visit to the companys head office by IANS in Noida to get a firsthand experience of the situation was not very encouraging eitherThe scene at the head office was somewhat chaotic as a crowd of nearly 100 people including locals was screaming to be given the Rs251 smartphone Some even offered to pay double the money for booking oneCompany officials did not come out and the access points were locked from inside Despite several attempts no access was allowed to any company officialHundreds of people crowding in front of the office were angry for not being able to get their hands on the cheap handsetldquoThe smartphone is for farmers and fishermen but how can they expect them to register online Neither of us has internet access nor we know how to operate a computer We cannot order it online so we are here for a unit or twordquo a local resident Vikas Kumar told IANSAnother local resident Kishen Singh said he was willing to pay double the announced price for the smartphone but complained that no one from the company was paying any heed to himEarlier the photos of the smartphone in newspaper advertisements released by the firm showed that all the icons of the builtin app were almost a replica of Applersquos iOS iconsAccording to the information available on Apple website ldquoYou may not use the Apple Logo or any other Appleowned graphic symbol logo or icon on or in connection with web sites products packaging manuals promotionaladvertising materials or for any other purpose except pursuant to an express written trademark license from Apple such as a reseller agreementrdquoSeveral attempts to speak to senior Ringing Bell executives on this controversy went in vainThe comapnys website crashed early in the morning as lakhs of people tried to log in from 6 am onwardsldquoDear friends we are very grateful for your enormous response and your kind patronage and would submit that as of now we receive approx 6 lakh hits per second as a result of which due to your kind overwhelming response servers are overloaded Ringing Bells flashed a message on wwwfreedom251comWe humbly submit that we are therefore taking a pause and upgrading the service and will revert within or before 24 hours the message readTaking the world by surprise the firm on Wednesday launched Freedom 251 smartphone priced at Rs251 that it said had been developed with immense support from the governmentFreedom 251 claims to have an Android 51 operating system a 4inch qHD IPS display a 32megapixel primary and a 03megapixel front cameraThe device also claims to have 3G connectivity 13GHz quadcore processor 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GBTo power Freedom 251 the company has put a 1450mAh battery and claims to have a service network of 650 centres across IndiaThe smartphone would come with preinstalled apps like Swachh Bharat Women Safety WhatsApp Facebook and Twitter among others the company had said informing buyers that preorder for the phones would be booked on the company website from 6 am on February 18 till 8 pm on February 21The company is also charging a shipping charge of Rs40 and claims that the smartphone will be delivered by June 30 from the date of bookingThe smartphone was unveiled at Nehru Park here by veteran Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday The company had also claimed in its invitation for journalists that Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar would be present for the launch However Parrikar was not present at the event