“I won’t lie and say it’s all been easy. We’ve juggled building a 158 person team, creating the brand, launching a first product, while making sure we have the rocket fuel ($74M+ in funding) to do all that,” Pei said on a Nothing Community post (via). “I’m proud we did all this in the midst of a pandemic with large parts of the team unable to collaborate in person, and in the midst of global supply chain disruptions. To add to the fun, we’ve also had a major incumbent attacking us in the supply chain trying to block our access to key components. We should take that as a sign of respect.”
Carl Pei also compared the orders of its ear (1) TWS earbuds to the original Apple iPod
Despite the allegations, Pei didn’t detail the “incumbent” hindering its progress in the industry. The lack of details is quite uncharacteristic given the kind of allegations leveled by the company chief. In other news, Pei thanked the Nothing employees for securing more than 320,000 orders of its earbuds. He said that only 180,000 units of the earbuds had shipped so far, clarifying that supply is still in the process of catching up to demand. He hoped to push orders beyond 600,000 while comparing it to the original Apple iPod, which sold roughly 400,000 units. “There’s a lot that could’ve been done better. But had we known about today’s outcome a year ago, I believe we would have all gladly gone for it,” Pei noted towards the end of the post. For those unaware, Pei co-founded OnePlus with Pete Lau, while also serving as the CEO for a while. Nothing came into existence shortly after Carl Pei left OnePlus. At the time, the new venture was termed as a “London based consumer technology company.” While we’ve only seen the company’s ear (1) wireless earbuds so far, there’s also speculation of a Nothing smartphone. The manufacturer could leverage its recently signed partnership with Qualcomm towards this venture.
