You can pay for One but you just can’t buy One on a whim. Instead of spending sleepless nights arm-wrestling between Apple and Samsung phones, there is a big crowd opting for the Shenzhen-based OnePlus smartphone, simply titled One. But like in the fledgling days of Gmail, it’s by invitation only — yes, you need an invite to buy One. That’s right, you have to participate in events hosted by the manufacturer or Amazon.in (the phone’s exclusive dealer in India) for an invite.

And the 16GB/64GB phone is in many ways a killer, both in terms of hardware and software. That’s not all. The company (founded by Pete Lau) now has a noteworthy presence in India, complete with a general manager.

Vikas Agarwal, GM of OnePlus India, tries to convince t2 why One is the one.

OnePlus invites are hot in India. How important is the country to the growth of OnePlus?

India is a key focus market for OnePlus. We are committed to a long-term growth here and are investing significant resources. India is the first country where we are building a local team outside our HQ to serve our customers better. In addition, we have also relocated some of our key senior personnel to India to connect closely with our fans and learn more about the local market.

Since our launch, we have witnessed a phenomenal response. In fact, India contributed seven percent of our last year’s overall sale within just one month of operations without any marketing or promotion activities. Currently, India is among our top three markets and is growing faster than any other country.

Since you have relocated some of your personnel to India, do you operate differently here?

During the market research phase, we realised the diversity and the untapped potential of this market. We also realised quite early that customer service and the social aspect is very critical here. Unlike our global markets where we do not have any physical presence, we decided to establish our local presence. Here, we plan to have fully localised operations since the expectations as well as requirements of users are very different from our global fans. It also allows us to respond faster to the needs of our customers here.

In a way, Indian operations are like a new start-up within a start-up. 

Why did you decide to ration the number of sets by sending out invitations?

As a young start-up with a risky business model, controlling inventory is very important. The invite system is a way to ensure that we know how many phones we are shipping and also to let users know that if they have an invite, there is a phone waiting in our warehouse to be shipped. The invite system has also allowed our customer support and logistics team to grow with the demand. Without the invite system, they would have been inundated and unable to get ahead of the orders, creating a bad experience for our users. We are slowly growing and improving and the invite system has been invaluable for this.

In addition, the invite system also acts as a great marketing channel to organically spread the word since it enables users to share the phone within their communities. When you use an invite, you will eventually get more invites to share with friends. It is a great way for users who perhaps haven’t heard about us to learn about our brand and products.

Okay, a couple of quibbles: The battery is irremovable and there is no slot for extra memory….

A removable battery adds bulk and takes away from the One’s slim, compact design, which is necessary to improve the feel of the phone in your hand. We instead opted to include a battery powerful enough to power a full day of use for even the most active users. We also optimised the software to ensure great battery life. At one-two days of data use, we’re very pleased with the battery life of the One.

About extra memory, with more users opting for cloud storage, we’ve found most people either want storage on their phone or don’t. Because of that, we offered two options –– 16GB and 64GB. We’ve found 64GB is more than enough for most people and are happy with our decision. For the future, we can study other options.

What according to you are some of the features that users want to see in future models of OnePlus One?

The One is a highly customisable device with high-end components and an award-winning design. The most popular features requested by Indian users are dual SIM, FM radio, battery life, quick charging, and so on. We will reach out to our fans when we finalise the features and specifications for our next flagship, which is due in
Q3 2015.

Why do you think OnePlus One has clicked with many smartphone users across the world?

We believe our fans connect with our ideology of “never settle” and believe in our vision of creating products that deliver the best user experience. We rely on word-of-mouth publicity and are fully accountable to our users. We love to personally connect and engage with our users through local community groups on Facebook, the OnePlus forums, and WhatsApp in an unprecedented manner. Slowly, but surely, more people will realise and relate with our vision of building a socially-engaged and user-first technology company.

Future plans for India?

One of the top priorities for us is to establish a robust and reliable after-sales service network. We already have a network of 40-plus service centres across major cities. Moving forward, we plan to scale it to many more cities and also set up in-house service capabilities to handle escalations and further enhance the service experience of our users. The other key focus area is to build local community groups and the OnePlus India platform.

How to get the OnePlus one?
l Participate in contests hosted by OnePlus for India or Amazon.in. Invites are then emailed to winners
l You can also get an invite from someone who has purchased the OnePlus One on Amazon.in
l Register your invite by clicking on the unique link that gets emailed to you
l Click ‘buy’ to purchase on Amazon.in
l The time-frame to use an invite is 48 hours from when the invite is generated

Specifications

Colour: Silk White/Sandstone Black
Screen: 5.5-inch
Weight: 162g
Resolution: 1080p full HD (1920x1080 pixels)
Operating system: Based on Android 4.4 Kitkat
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2.5GHz quad-core
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 16GB/64GB
Sensors: Accelometer, gyroscope, proximity and ambient light
Price: Rs 18,999 for 16GB and Rs 21,999 for 64GB

Mathures Paul
Which is your favourite smartphone brand and why? Tell t2@abp.in

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