Remember back when OnePlus was the original upstart smartphone brand with brash marketing ideas, Carl Pei as its co-founder, and the OP1 which you could only buy if you had an invite? We all loved that invite-only strategy, right? If so, it’s good news because it has been confirmed that Carl Pei’s Nothing will launch the Phone (1) on July 12th with fans needing an invite to place an order. Yay.
The confirmation comes via a promo video that shows off the Phone (1)’s design, the use of recycled aluminum and all sorts of other interesting factoids about the production process. Near the end of the video, a discussion is shown where the invite system is talked about, and basically it’s so the people who want it most get it first. Which on paper sounds fair, especially when you consider that this is Nothing’s first smartphone and that its production line isn’t mature and neither does the company want to have tens of thousands of units sitting in a warehouse if the uptake isn’t as expected.
Carl Pei also referred to the company’s Ear (1) earbuds whose inventory went on general sale once a week and sold out on the same day, leaving wannabe buyers disappointed because they weren’t fast enough to the punch. All-in-all, it’s understandable that Nothing is treading the path of the invite-only system, at least initially, as it finds its feet with its debut smartphone.
Alas. The problem is people. Why? Because everyone who wants to buy the Phone (1) will believe that they are the uber-duber superfan of Nothing, and that they deserve it more.
Let us know what you think of Nothing’s Phone (1) going on sale via an invite system.
