Indian OnePlus fans are quite angry with the OnePlus team and they have probably got a reason. OnePlus and OnePlus 2 are invite only phones with really great specifications. OnePlus 2 comes loaded with 4GB of RAM in its 64GB variant and 3GB RAM in its 16GB variant. The phone has got Android v5.1(Lollipop) under the hood, adding to that, OnePlus 2 has got Adreno 430 GPU. So all in all, the phone is a metallic beast at a really low cost. So what’s keeping the OnePlus 2 fans so off? Well, it’s the invite system.
As mentioned earlier, OnePlus 2 is an invite only phone. So one has to first get an invite from someone who has already bought the phone and then buy it. Originally this idea was brought to cut the marketing cost and the idea worked really well initially but later it backfired.
People Selling Invites
The public response was not as expected. Rather than sharing it for free, people have started selling the invites at whooping prices. Someone even quoted the cost of invite at Rs.2,000 i.e. approximately 8.5% of the cost of the phone (cost of the phone is Rs.25,000 in Indian market). Imagine paying extra 8.5% to a random dude just to get your hands on the phone you like? Feels bad, doesn’t it? What’s making this worse is inaction from the official OnePlus team. Rather than single-handedly handling these folks, OnePlus team has sat down cross-legged and watching all this pun going on.
Groups have been created on Facebook which are promoting open sale of these invites. Is it really ethical and moral?
OnePlus Invite Selling Page
When asked, some of the sellers correctly pointed out the fact that they have worked hard enough to sell off the invites to people who want to buy OnePlus 2. They said they have promoted the OnePlus 2 and earned the invites and now it’s totally up to them what they want to do with the invites. So technically they are absolutely right but still, cashing out on opportunities like this is no less than a sin in marketing world.
OnePlus 2 team is least bothered about all the mess going on. According to the official OnePlus 2 website, 5,464,450 people are on the waiting list and with so much demand – people are easily falling for this pay-and-get-an-invite scheme. Such huge difference between demand and supply has created a whole new market for middlemen and they’re surely making large amount of money out of it.