‘OnePlus success because of single prodcut focus’
Avik Das & Sujit John tnn TNN
Bengaluru:02.08.2018
OnePlus founder & CEO Pete Lau said his brand’s outstanding performance in India went way beyond his initial expectations, and attributed it primarily to two elements – the company’s total focus on a single flagship product, and its culture of listening closely to the voices of its user community to understand their expectations.
On Tuesday, global research firm Counterpoint said OnePlus had surpassed Samsung to lead the premium smartphone segment (over Rs 30,000) for the first time ever in the second quarter of 2018. It estimated OnePlus’ share at 40%, and Samsung’s at 34%. Apple was third, but way behind at 14%.
Counterpoint noted that with every flagship OnePlus launch, its user base had been growing in India and this was now translating to record sales for every new flagship. The last quarter had seen the launch of the OnePlus 6, which saw kilometre long queues in front of some of its stores in India.
In an exclusive interaction with TOI in Bengaluru, Lau said, “This is definitely a milestone. It’s also a natural result of our persistence in doing what we believe is right, our focus on making the best possible products.”
India, he said, would now be his biggest market, slightly above even home market China. India accounts for about a third of the company’s revenue – the global revenue was $1.4 billion in 2017.
Lau said his biggest base of users, about 30%, is in the age bracket of 18 to 24. “We realise that India as a country is more close to western culture than we thought. And there is a high level of awareness,” he said. Lau had started working in China’s Oppo Electronics as a hardware engineer. He rose to be vice president in the mobile company. In 2013, he started OnePlus. The brand was launched in India the following year.
Lau understands English, but finds it difficult to speak the language. “I spent a lot of time focusing on the language in university, spent time memorising words, but I was never able to improve my speaking. If I’m sent to the US for a year without a team to support me, I’ll learn,” he said with a laugh. The interview was done with the help of a translator.
Lau is obsessed with design, probably a big factor in OnePlus’ attractiveness. “I can talk about design all night, it’s in my heart, as a product manager. I will spend months working on 0.01mm differences in the back curve or in the bottom slope of the device. We are focused on creating a design that does not become uninteresting within weeks or months,” he says.
Lau said OnePlus does not add elements or functions for the sake of adding them.
“It’s our core product philosophy – create a user experience that’s the best, have a device that does all of what is expected of it in a manner that is as fast and smooth as possible, and doesn’t bind the user to deal with things beyond that, like unnecessary notifications, adware, bloatware,” he said.
Avik Das & Sujit John tnn TNN
Bengaluru:02.08.2018
OnePlus founder & CEO Pete Lau said his brand’s outstanding performance in India went way beyond his initial expectations, and attributed it primarily to two elements – the company’s total focus on a single flagship product, and its culture of listening closely to the voices of its user community to understand their expectations.
On Tuesday, global research firm Counterpoint said OnePlus had surpassed Samsung to lead the premium smartphone segment (over Rs 30,000) for the first time ever in the second quarter of 2018. It estimated OnePlus’ share at 40%, and Samsung’s at 34%. Apple was third, but way behind at 14%.
Counterpoint noted that with every flagship OnePlus launch, its user base had been growing in India and this was now translating to record sales for every new flagship. The last quarter had seen the launch of the OnePlus 6, which saw kilometre long queues in front of some of its stores in India.
In an exclusive interaction with TOI in Bengaluru, Lau said, “This is definitely a milestone. It’s also a natural result of our persistence in doing what we believe is right, our focus on making the best possible products.”
India, he said, would now be his biggest market, slightly above even home market China. India accounts for about a third of the company’s revenue – the global revenue was $1.4 billion in 2017.
Lau said his biggest base of users, about 30%, is in the age bracket of 18 to 24. “We realise that India as a country is more close to western culture than we thought. And there is a high level of awareness,” he said. Lau had started working in China’s Oppo Electronics as a hardware engineer. He rose to be vice president in the mobile company. In 2013, he started OnePlus. The brand was launched in India the following year.
Lau understands English, but finds it difficult to speak the language. “I spent a lot of time focusing on the language in university, spent time memorising words, but I was never able to improve my speaking. If I’m sent to the US for a year without a team to support me, I’ll learn,” he said with a laugh. The interview was done with the help of a translator.
Lau is obsessed with design, probably a big factor in OnePlus’ attractiveness. “I can talk about design all night, it’s in my heart, as a product manager. I will spend months working on 0.01mm differences in the back curve or in the bottom slope of the device. We are focused on creating a design that does not become uninteresting within weeks or months,” he says.
Lau said OnePlus does not add elements or functions for the sake of adding them.
“It’s our core product philosophy – create a user experience that’s the best, have a device that does all of what is expected of it in a manner that is as fast and smooth as possible, and doesn’t bind the user to deal with things beyond that, like unnecessary notifications, adware, bloatware,” he said.
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