OnePlus:
OnePlus, the well-known smartphone brand today, was launched by Pete Lau (CEO) and Carl Pei in December 2013. This Chinese phone maker is a fully-owned subsidiary of Oppo. The following year, the company launched its first smartphone; the OnePlus One. The smartphone made its way to the Indian market in December 2014. During that time, OnePlus also announced its plans to expand its presence in the South Asian region.
The same year, OnePlus decided to open operations in several European countries including Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, the UK and many more. OnePlus has presence in 43 countries as of March 2016. The company last year hinted that OnePlus may launch its smartphones via local carriers in the US.
Invitation System:
For the first couple of years, OnePlus used something called invitation system for selling its smartphones. In order to obtain an OnePlus device, customers had to sign up for a reservation or respond to the company’s social media posts or receive an invitation from those with an OnePlus phone.
However, after receiving criticism from fans, OnePlus decided to ditch the invitation-based system. With the launch of OnePlus 3, the company started selling its devices like any other conventional OEM.
“Smash the Past” Campaign:
In the year 2014, OnePlus had launched a controversial marketing campaign called “Smash the Past” campaign. As part of the campaign, selected customers were asked to destroy their phones in order to get the OnePlus One phone at just $1. Unfortunately, the campaign went horrible wrong when many damaged their phones even before the campaign start date.
The campaign was also criticized for environmental purposes. Following the controversy, OnePlus asked winners of the campaign to donate their old phones.
Products:
Some of the products which OnePlus has in its portfolio are: OxygenOS, OnePlus One, OnePlus 2, OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5, and OnePlus 5T.
