Ali Hasan
Carl Pei, the OnePlus co-founder who parted ways with the company last year, has announced the name of his next venture – Nothing. It plans to release its first “smart devices” in the first half of this year. OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei launched the brand after raising $7 million in financing in December.
It describes itself as a “London based consumer technology company” and counts the likes of iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and YouTuber Casey Neistat as investors.
“Nothing’s mission is to remove barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future,” says Pei, Nothing’s founder and CEO, in a press release. “We believe that the best technology is beautiful, yet natural and intuitive to use. When sufficiently advanced, it should fade into the background and feel like nothing.”
What’s unclear at the moment is exactly what products “Nothing” plans to release. Pei declined to offer specific details on what form Nothing’s first “smart devices” will take. He also declined to say which companies “Nothing” plans to compete with. Pei does confirm, however, that “Nothing” plans to release products across multiple categories, with the eventual aim of building up an ecosystem of devices.
“Right now… the team is being built, so we want to focus on simpler categories,” Pei says, “but as our team gains capabilities and skills we want to start moving up. The ultimate vision of having everything connected in a seamless way that can only happen when you have multiple categories of products that are connected.”
“We haven’t spent too much time thinking about the software portion of it,” Pei says. “It definitely needs to be a good user experience if you are to generate revenue from software.” In the long term, however, he admits that a “healthy business” requires both good hardware and good software.
Pei left OnePlus in October. He launched the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturing company in 2013. OnePlus first sold phones through an invite-only requirement and later adapted to a newer business model offering affordable and competitive phones. The company also produces other products such as headphones and TVs.
