New tech company Nothing: What do we know?
“Technology should fade into the background and feel like nothing”, that’s what Nothing is trying to achieve.
Nothing is a London-based technology company, founded by Carl Pei. He was previously known as a co-founder of the OnePlus. Pei left OnePlus in September 2020 and he announced his new company last month via Twitter.
And what do know about his new venture? Not much yet. No specific product was announced, we only know that Nothing will release wireless headphones sometime this summer. It’s unclear what other products the company plans to release.
Technology should feel like nothing
We can guess the company will orient on smart devices. Therefore we can maybe expect smartphones, smartwatches, smart home accessories, or even laptops. In a press release, Pei said that “Nothing’s mission is to remove barriers between people and technology and to create a seamless digital future”. He continued: “We believe the best technology is beautiful, yet natural and intuitive to use”. According to Pei, technology should feel like nothing.
It’s hard to tell what he means by that. On Nothing’s website there is one video that doesn’t tell anything specific but it may give a few hints. Can we expect tech which will be more minimalistic, more simple? Or will it be ecological, considerate to nature? Will it somehow blend into our lives without distracting us? We’ll know more once they announce the first product.
Be part of the journey
With the announcement of the company we also find out that big names invested into a business. Between first Nothing investors are former Apple engineer and the inventor of iPod, Tony Fadell, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin or famous YouTuber Casey Neistat.
And only recently Pei invited the community to be part of the journey by investing into the company as well. People can pre-register on Nothing’s website to get early access to buying shares on funding platform Crowdcube.
“$1.5 million worth of shares will be available to the community at the same price as our wider Series A funding round led by GV (formerly known as Google Ventures). The number of shares is limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis on Crowdcube” as stated on the company website.
We can already see Pei building hype about Nothing brand. According to Nothing on Twitter, in just 24 hours already 14,500 people registered with interest to invest $18 million in total. Thousands of people are rushing to invest in a start-up that doesn’t even introduce its first product. It can be a very risky investment, however an exciting one.
In conclusion, I am curious about Nothing and can’t wait for the announcement of the first product. Then we will see if the hype is real and Nothing can compete with the biggest names in the tech industry. With releasing wireless headphones, it’s going into competition with Apple, Samsung, Sony, Jabra, Bose and many others. However, if Nothing can somehow differentiate themselves with a quality product, it may be a worthy competitor.
