Carl Pei's Nothing told us about five new products under development in November. Now their choice of Dyson's Adam Bates as head of their upcoming design hub could serve as a possible hint around how their product portfolio might pan out.
Three months ago, the company had hinted that a smartphone could be among the five products and it sounded like a natural progression, having first launched a pair of TWS earbuds as their first offering. That Adam Bates had helped Dyson design a range of home appliances makes us a tad suspicious.
Of course, there is nothing from the company to suggest that a hairdryer, an Airwrap or an air purifier is in the works. When Carl Pei exited OnePlus and set up Nothing in January 2021, it was announced as a smart devices maker, which means none of the above devices can be completely ruled out.
Please welcome Adam Bates, our new Design Director.Adam spent over 14 years at Dyson, leading the team that defined their products' design and user experience.He'll now build our London design hub.We're here to create iconic products, to change the consumer tech landscape.January 28, 2022
We were told last January that Nothing was a “London based consumer technology company” developing "smart devices". It had the likes of iPod inventor Tony Fadell, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, and YouTuber Casey Neistat as investors. And Nothing Ear 1 TWS earbuds did impress with its design language.
For Dyson, Adam Bates proved to be the design linguist who set the tone for many of its smart products over a 14-year tenure with the company. Now, Bates says that his mission "at this early stage is to build a team and develop a design culture so we can create iconic products that will change the consumer tech landscape."
From Nothing's point of view, its first product sold 400,000 units and there were also rumors of a possible smartphone under development immediately after. While we are yet to hear on these fronts, Bates' arrival to set up the design team could well be the start of a journey towards a smartphone matching the TWS's transparent design.
The focus is on smart devices, not smartphones
Last November, when Nothing's India head Manu Sharma had indicated the five new products without revealing them, speculation veered around a smartphone as Carl Pei had acquired the rights of a defunct brand called Essential. However, with Bates in the fray, the brand identity may mean every other home essential.
We heard of an impending power bank launch in December, but Carl Pei had teased wireless earbuds and smart home devices a few days after Nothing's launch. While the company remained non-committal about the products itself, we believe that the arrival of Adam Bates could well be a precursor to broader product portfolio.
That many of the products from the Dyson portfolio carry their minimalist and yet functional appearance with a focus on primary color accents, could also point us to the same direction.
Carl Pei too didn't let out much when he welcomed Adam "at this special time during Nothing's foundational years. "Adam played a key role in shaping Dyson design legacy and I have every confidence that he will help Nothing shape iconic products that we're proud to share with friends and family," is what he said.
- Best true wireless earbuds (TWS) under Rs 10,000 in India
- You could also check out our review of the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds
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