Nothing Technology Limited is a London-based company removing the barriers between people and technology to create a seamless digital future. Their smart devices will not only be functional but will be the ones which feel like Nothing. Nothing was set up by Carl Pei, the former co-founder of manufacturer OnePlus.

The editor of VAR magazine, Mr Srijith KN, met with Akis Evangelidis, the co-founder and marketing head of Nothing Mobile, during his recent visit to Dubai. And in the full-length cut of our interview with him, he emphasized the importance of being the third important player in the middle eastern region. Also, he explained the opportunities Nothing Mobile will be presenting to the dealers and suppliers here.

“Most of the team, including Carl Pie, at one point didn’t feel so excited anymore about this industry. But there was a time when we used to get so excited when the first iPhone came out or the first time we interacted with an iPod. Those memories would never fade because they are so deeply embedded in our minds. However, I believe the innovation type that has occurred in recent years is no longer exciting. It’s now more about iterations than true innovation!”

 

How did Nothing come into being?

We feel that there is no true good alternative to Apple’s ecosystem. With Nothing, we have the ambition to build a productive ecosystem. With Nothing, we had been thinking about the ultimate user experience once everything we make comes together and works perfectly. There should be Nothing that restrains you in terms of using. Carl was the one who came up with the name ‘Nothing’.

Initially, we needed to figure out how to work things out. We started talking to friends and Investors. Many of them knew what we needed to do to start things off! We then readied an excellent team and happened to have quite a few co-founders in different specialities – hardware, software, marketing, sales and operations. After that, we raised $7 million in seed capital from people like Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and YouTuber Casey Neistat. These successful business owners wanted us to give it a try! As soon as this occurred, Google Ventures became excited and invested with us.

Mr Akis, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

I have always been quite a tech enthusiast. You should know that I had an iPhone at first, an iPod, and so on. I studied in London. Usually, there, you would end up going into finance or consulting. I wanted to work for a consumer electronics company. So, I enrolled in Sony’s two-year graduate program.

After that, I joined One Plus as France’s marketing manager, but they hadn’t extended into Europe yet. I met Carl in our early days at One Plus, but we go separate ways within the company.

Do you believe that Nothing has shaken the smartphone industry?

Shaken is a big word! I think that we have enabled us to have a proper shot. Now we deserve a seat at the table. In the last two years, we’ve sold over 1,000,000 units across all our products, which is rare for a start-up.

We are now introducing our in-house software so that the experience will be much better. This will be something that we will be on building upon. Phone 1 was a great starting point, and I want to let you know that more exciting stuff is coming!

What excites you about Phone 2?

Phone 2 is going to be a more premium device. More advanced in the specification and features. The phone was our flagship product, which will still be available in the market. Now phone 2 will have a great user experience, especially with the new in-house software that we are building. This is all I can tell you at this moment.

How committed is Nothing to the low-end smartphone market?

Our mission statement states that we wouldn’t make products we’re proud to share with our friends and families. For us, it is never so much about doing value products. It is more about doing great products.

Currently, there is hardly any exciting innovation. But nowadays, you can see a new kind of specification war happening. Adding more modules may justify higher and higher price points, and that too with absolutely little value to the end user. This is where we have provided users with reasonable competitive pricing. We think from a user standpoint, and as a user, we always want a great user experience, but eventually at an affordable price point.

What business opportunities for small-scale vendors here in the Middle East?

There hasn’t been any serious alternative to the lights of Apple and Samsung. And to me, Samsung who’s gradually losing market shares towards Apple. There is no real third player, especially here in the middle east. There was Huawei at one point of time in the past. But they sort pretty much out now.

You know, we could be that third brand in the Middle East, building long-term partnerships with our partners. We have launched a partnership with Sharaf DG in over 30 stores. They are super excited in terms of the products that we are coming up with and in terms of the road map we have for the future.

The signs are also quite good regarding demand, and we are here for a long-run play. The GCC is a priority market for the whole company this year. We hired our first headcount, our new business development manager, Mr Rishi Kishor Gupta, who’s heading up sales here in the region, about one-half month ago. He has already signed up with a few partners. We will announce more partners soon. Sharaf DG was our first partner. We are here to build and value long terms relationships.

What is Nothing’s sustainability vision?

Since day one, we have been tracking the carbon footprint of all the products we have been making. Then we have been able to introduce recycled materials for building our products. On phone 1, the mid-frame of the phone is made of 100% recycled aluminium. About 25 components in Phone 1 have been made of bio or recycled plastics. We have only sourced about 13 components on the supply chain side. There are still a lot of things to be done here.

Ear one was a carbon-neutral product. And we are working to improve our carbon footprint on all our products. It’s going to be a step-by-step journey, but definitely that we are committed to it.

As you mentioned, there are many significant players in this market. So, how important is it to build trust with the region’s consumers?

We have partnered with Sharaf DG because they are renowned. Their service level is excellent as well. This was a key criterion for us. As I understand, this user trust comes from a great user experience.

We will never be the best value for money because of pulling off those designs and features. It does take a lot of R&D.

Please tell us how the best user experience will be achieved with Phone 2.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to tell you much, but the key will be the software. Last year, we spent much time on the hardware to pull it off with a unique design. This year it will be the software. But we have a few ideas for taking the Android user experience over this!

And the expected launch of phone 2?

Later this year, with a unique software experience!