How OnePlus CEO Pete Lau is pioneering a new way to build smartphones – with his users

OnePlus founder and CEO Pete Lau. Photo credit: OnePlus.

I’m sitting at the OnePlus office in Bangalore, adjacent to Flipkart’s India headquarters. About 50 OnePlus phone users have ganged up around the company’s CEO, Pete Lau, who is visiting India.

With the help of an interpreter, Pete is taking suggestions on what Indian users want in the company’s upcoming product – the OnePlus 3 smartphone, likely to be launched in the second quarter of 2016.

He is also taking feedback on things users loved and hated about the company’s latest product, OnePlus 2, launched last year. “Heating issues on first day, battery life, connectivity, screen resolution, phone’s size,” those gathered recount the good and bad of their OnePlus phones directly to the company’s CEO.

A novel way of Android design

Travelling around the world, Pete is gathering feedback and suggestions directly from users. It’s a new way of product development which the big smartphone makers are yet to adopt. “It’s just something that we’ve done from day one. We have created a culture in the company where we develop the product only with our fans,” says Pete, a former senior executive with Oppo Electronics who quit in 2013 to launch his own smartphone brand.

OnePlus founder Pete Lau listening to suggestions from Indian users for his upcoming product at a meet in its Bangalore office. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Started in December 2013, OnePlus now sells phones across 36 countries, through ecommerce channels.

“It’s as simple as asking what apps people like to use most and we integrate them in our next models of phones,” he adds.

Vikas diligently notes down all the issues and suggestions that users have on a whiteboard.

I remember my OnePlus 2 phone heating up the day I switched it on. The problem was resolved after a software update a day later. “It was because of the Snapdragon platform which wasn’t mature enough. That it will be fixed as the platform gets matured,” Pete explains to its Indian users.

The company’s India general manager, Vikas Agarwal, diligently notes down all the issues and suggestions that users have on a whiteboard. The two-year-old OnePlus has just 20 people in India, and about 800 worldwide. The company has sold about 1.5 million phones till date, with over 1 million in India alone. Amazon is its sole sales partner in India.

“So, how much would you like to trade your old OnePlus for an upgrade to a new one?” Pete asks. About US$147, those gathered reply.

Unlike software companies, where websites launch a beta download version or make minimum viable products, hardware companies rarely test their phones with users before launching. “Give us the phones in beta phase for testing before you launch in the market,” says one user. “There should be experience centers before we buy the phone,” says another.

Specs for the OnePlus 3 already out!

OnePlus will never make a cheap phone