Readers can’t make up their minds about Nothing

Carl Pei’s latest venture, Nothing, will soon launch its first product in the form of the Ear 1 buds. While this prospect and the weight behind the company might excite some, others might not really care about the fledgling firm or its promised wares at all.

To gauge the temperature in the room, we asked our readers in a recent poll if they care about Nothing. Here’s how you answered.

Do you care about Nothing?

Results

We ran this poll across our social media channels and website. A considerable portion (39.5%) of the ~1,300 respondents on the latter admit that they don’t care about Nothing. 29.3% of voters claim that they care about the company, while 31.2% suggest that they might. The latter group is waiting to see the company’s products before picking a side.

On Twitter, readers were much more tentative. A smaller portion (37.9%) claim they don’t care about Nothing, but 39.7% of respondents answered “maybe.” Just 22.3% of the ~2,200 voters on Twitter care about the firm and its prospects.

There are plenty of reasons to believe Nothing will be somebody in the tech world. As OnePlus co-founder, Pei is no stranger to successful ventures, and it’s clear Nothing is willing to offer reasonable prices for its products. Building on the ashes of Essential, the firm could eventually branch into other products beyond the audio sphere.

Conversely, in the greater scheme of things, it’s currently another company with a marketing budget. It’ll be tough for a niche player to break through the crowded and competitive true wireless earbud market in a market lead by big firms. Granted, Nothing has grander plans, but those seem to be a while away yet.

Nevertheless, readers were swift to have their say in the comments.

Your comments

• Wongwatt: At the risk of the usual derision when I say this, Nothing is releasing a pointless pair of buds into a market dominated by seasoned veterans (and Apple) and that shows a complete lack of direction for this new company. It’s a desperate move from a guy who left (or was pushed out from) a company that was changing direction around him and shows no invention or innovation at all. And transparent? Really? Are we back in the ’90s?
• Albin: Nestle makes a chocolate bar called Aero, which’s about the same size and price as others but is blown full of air holes so that there’s only about half as much in it, sold as a delightful, bubbly “experience.” Whether Nothing is the Aero of tech will be seen.
• Binoy Mathew: No, I care about nothing. I’ll always be a rebel.
• David Olmedo: They have been teasing their new product for so long so my expectations are set really high.
• Mayank M: What I only know is that Carl Pei is a hype machine. He knows to create hype about the product, whether the product is good or bad. That’s what he did in OnePlus. Also, I like the name and would love to see what other products will they do.

That’s it for this poll. If you care about Nothing or have thoughts about our poll results, be sure to let us know in the comments section below.