Linking Aakash tablet to Freedom 251 demeans it: Datawind CEO

Disturbed with recent media reports comparing the recently-unveiled cheapest smartphone Freedom 251 with the government's Aakash tablet project, Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli today said, "The Rs 251 smartphone is nothing like the Aakash tablet."

Slamming media reports terming Aakash tablet as 'scam', Tuli said, "Freedom 251 is just a marketing promotion of an existing Chinese product already being sold in Nehru Place (in New Delhi)." "On the other hand, the entire Aakash tablet project involved a lot of hard work. It was one of government's flagship projects back in 2011 and had received a lot of applauds internationally. It is very disturbing when people link the Freedom 251 smartphone with the Aakash tablet and call it a scam. Aakash was very successful. And we delivered what the government wanted from us. Where is the scam in it?"

"First things first. Aakash was not a commercial project. It was for the government. While we sold the consumer version under the brand name of UbiSlate, the brand Aakash belongs to the government. The specification, quality and everything associated with it was approved by the government. We were only told to supply 1 lakh units to the government which we did," added Tuli.

Commenting on the cheapest Freedom 251, Tuli said, "It is impossible. The price of 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM is more than the price of the device. There is no innovation but do expect surprises soon."

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