'Wanted To Create Own Legacy': Nothing Shares How The Company Got Its Unusual Name

In terms of overall online sales in the July-September (2022) quarter, the Nothing Phone (1) was the second-most-sold smartphone in the country.

Currently, Nothing India has more than 250 service points across the country. ( Image: Getty )

London-based consumer tech venture Nothing received a good response in the country and cemented its position in the India smartphone market with the launch of its first smartphone, the Nothing Phone (1) last year. With a 15 per cent market share, Nothing captured the fourth spot in the India smartphone market in the July to September quarter (Q3) of 2022 in the affordable premium segment (which included devices in Rs 35,000-Rs 45,000 the price segment).

The top four spots in the affordable premium price segments were captured by popular smartphone OEMs OnePlus, Samsung and Vivo, followed by Nothing, data from Counterpoint Research showed.

The company's mission is to remove barriers between people and technology and it intends to create a seamless digital future, a top company executive has said while highlighting Nothing's expansion plans in the country.

"It's been a while since anything interesting happened in tech. It is time for a fresh breeze of change," Manu Sharma, Vice President and General Manager, Nothing India told ABP Live while explaining how Nothing got its unusual name. 

"As you may already know, Nothing bought Essential, the company behind the Essential Phone-1. Carl Pei said that the team really liked that name, but that they wanted to create their own legacy, hence use a brand new name. This is when the company came up with this brand name," Sharma explained.

Asked if the company has faced any challenges or benefits, given its name, Sharma replied: "We are proud of the Nothing brand as it (the name) evokes a lot of interest about our company. It is extremely positive."

In terms of overall online sales in the July-September (2022) quarter, the Nothing Phone (1) was the second-most-sold smartphone and it became the top-selling device on e-commerce site Flipkart in the same period, Counterpoint Research data showed.

Founded by Chinese-Swedish entrepreneur and former co-founder of OnePlus Carl Pei, Nothing aims to set up a few exclusive stores in the country in 2023.

"We have very strong relationship with Flipkart as a partner and we have also expanded our relationship with Myntra. ...And as we move forward this year, we also going to be looking at perhaps some exclusive stores also so that we can learn and understand where community can come, as part of the learning process as well as they can get a first-hand experience of our products," Sharma said.

As the company enters its third year of operations, it is also working towards enhancing its customer service network in India. Currently, Nothing India has more than 250 service points across the country. The consumer tech brand also has 1,000 outlets footprint for the brick-and-mortar stores.

"There was a lot of hype that was created before the launch of the Nothing Phone (1). Overall, the sales volume after the launch was good, according to us," said Shilpi Jain, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

Meanwhile, Nothing has started rolling out Android 13-based second beta update for the Nothing Phone (1), which means the Nothing OS 1.5 beta 2 for beta testers has been made available. Those who have enrolled in Nothing's beta programme can download the update by going to the Settings app and download the OTA update which is 127MB in size.