Carl Pei Says Nothing Acquired Essential Only For The Name, Not For Technology, And Jokes About The Brand’s Odd Phone Design And Clunky, Cramped Keyboard
Nothing seems to be now focused on the launch of its Phone (3), and the tech community is also anticipating the device for the speculations around the Glyph Interface being said farewell to. The company also plans to unveil a set of new headphones. While talking about the company and its future direction in a video, Carl Pei, the CEO of Nothing, spilled the beans on why the company went with the acquisition of Essential, a question that many users wanted to ask, and from what we gathered, it was indeed for a simple reason.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei finally reveals the real reason behind the company opting for Essential acquisition
Nothing left its users, and the tech community was surprised when it acquired Essential in 2021. While the affair dates back, it drew a lot of curiosity, with many feeling there was ambiguity regarding the company’s intention in moving in this direction and securing the brand. Recently, during an interview, CEO Carl Pei finally addressed the mystery of its acquisition and shared the real reason behind the move.
In a 7-minute video interview, Pei laid out why the company acquired Essential, and the actual reason was pretty straightforward, contrary to expectations. Pei expressed that his motive behind this purchase was to secure primarily the Essential name, and initially, the plan was to use the same for the company’s own product lineup. The acquisition gave Nothing access to Essential’s domain name, trademark, and even social media handles.
What might have appeared to be deeper turned out to simply be a strategic move to invest more in the branding. During the interview, Pei shared some honest insights about its branding journey and made it clear that it was not a decision driven by technology but utterly for the name. Before the name Nothing got finalized, Pei was considering “Stone,” and it was Essential he kept on feeling drawn to it. The interesting part about this acquisition is that Carl Pei decided to invest in buying the right to Essential, even when the company was no longer in operation. While the acquisition gave Pei access to the domain name and other assets, he still chose to go with Nothing as the name of the company.
To emphasize his point further about not acquiring Essential for the technology, Pei again highlighted that the technology was not part of the plan and even took a dig at the unreleased Project Gem, laughing at the odd phone design and cramped keyboard placement. Nohing by being more open about its branding journey and adding more clarity to it gives users more reasons to trust the brand and the vision behind it.
