If there’s one person who knows how to create a surrounding of hype and anticipation before a product launch, it has to be Carl Pei. The former co-founder of OnePlus, it had some brilliant marketing tweaks before the launch of its initial OnePlus devices. And it has now taken a page from that book and applied it to the launch of its own smartphone. Dubbed Nothing 1, it has already managed to grab the attention of the masses, thanks to the new Glyph interact and the back LED lights.
However, those weren’t the only reason for it being in the news every other day. Similar to OnPlus, it had started the pre-order booking system wherein you had to pay some amount up-front to confirm your slot of getting blessed with the device before the general users. So if you had shelled out USD20 in the US or €20 in Italy, then you had 2 weeks in hand to pre-order the device in the color of your choice. And as you might have guessed, this 14-day time frame was exclusive for the pre-order users only.
Nothing Phone 1 Pre-Order Pass gives you literally nothing!
However, as soon as the 14-day time period elapsed, everyone was able to book the device at the same time. So the users who had paid 20 bucks beforehand were given no preferential treatment and were instead given the same treatment as the rest of the users. All in all, not only did their 20 bucks go into the drain, many of them weren’t able to even get their hands on their device even though the general users with no pre-booking pass were able to do so.
As far as the official statement on this matter is concerned, it’s the same old generic statement that the demand for the devices was astronomical which is leading to longer shipping estimates. This literally makes no sense whatsoever because the sole motive of introducing the invite-only scheme is to make sure that those who have purchased the invite should be the first in line to get blessed with the device, especially in scenarios where the demand > supply.
But by opening the gates for everyone at one go, it seems that they have failed at the first checkpoint itself. We just hope that it isn’t one of those “morning shows the day” but more of a “don’t just a book by its cover” scenario. Until then, let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope it doesn’t leave us with “Nothing to desire”. What are your views on the same? Were you able to do a pre-booking of your Nothing Phone 1 but only to return empty handed? Do share your valuable opinions with us in the comments section below.
