The Nothing Phone (1) garnered immense hype, and there was a ton of positivity around its design, but sadly, the smartphone did not make its way to the U.S., which is the largest handset market by revenue. Now, founder Carl Pei makes his intentions clear in the latest interview about entering this market while also highlighting why his latest company did not enter the region in the first place.
Pei Explains Why Nothing Did Not Enter the U.S. At the Very Beginning, Claims That There Was a Ton of Technical Assistance Required
It is astonishing that the Nothing Phone (1) launched in 40 countries, and yet, the U.S. was not among them. Pei talks to CNBC in the latest interview and explains why the mid-ranger could not arrive there and take on the iPhone.
“The reason why we didn’t launch in the U.S. is because you need a lot of additional technical support, to support all the carriers and their unique customizations that they need to make on top of Android. We felt that we weren’t ready before. Now we are in discussions with some carriers in the U.S. to potentially launch a future product there.”
Canada is also another market that Nothing ignored, but it could have been for the same reason. The company has been backed by iPod creator Tony Fadell and Alphabet’s VC division GV, so it is highly likely that Pei used their knowledge and resources to obtain significant information on how to penetrate the U.S. market with the Phone (1). The founder also believes that consumers in this country have shown immense interest, believing that as soon as he launches there, the smartphone would be an instant success.
“It’s definitely a market where there’s already a lot of interest for our products. And if we launch our smartphones there, I’m sure we could obtain significant growth.”
About a third of the sales of the Nothing Ear (stick), the company’s pair of wireless earphones, came from the U.S., so naturally, the interest is there. However, the smartphone market is an insanely crowded space, and the Phone (1) needs to be competitively priced if it is going to succeed. After all, it does not feature a flagship chipset or an insanely top-tier camera, which means, at the very least, it is going to compete against Apple’s most affordable offering, the iPhone SE.
We will see what Nothing’s strategy with the Phone (1) will be going forward, and we will update our readers in the future.
News Source: CNBC
