It's finally happening for those of you who have been waiting endlessly for an invite to buy the OnePlus smartphone but haven't gotten one. For a limited period this coming October 27, they will be accepting pre-orders for those who were not among the thousands of people who received an invite to purchase the elusive smartphone. This is the first time they will be doing so, after receiving numerous requests and complaints as well as to their method of letting consumers have access to their device.
While their unique approach to creating buzz and hype for their product was at first impressive, eventually, people started getting frustrated at the fact that they cannot just outrightly buy something that they want and have to jump through hoops first. They realized and acknowledged eventually that it was becoming impractical and inconvenient, and so they recently announced the details for the pre-order system. While waiting for the official pre-order date schedule, you can now "arrange" your shopping cart, like delivery address, payment options, etc so that placing your pre-order easily on the designated date.
Pre-orders will be accepted starting October 27 at 15:00 GMT (that's 08:00 PST and 11:00 EST) and will only last for an hour. Once you place your pre-order, you will be told the estimated shipping time for your device. In case you suddenly receive that elusive invite after you've placed your pre-order, you can just skip the queue and get instant delivery for your device. Accessories sold on their site will also be on sale during this one-hour window, including the JBL E1+Earphones which will be available for $24.99 and will go back to its regular price of $39.99 after the pre-order period.
It's a good thing that the OnePlus has more than lived up to the hype and its promise, or else this marketing ploy would have spectacularly failed. The one-hour pre-order period might seem too short but it's at least something to assuage disgruntled consumers who just want to buy the device. Let's just hope their inventory and system can handle the expected onslaught of orders, or else, they will have even more annoyed would-have-been OnePlus owners.
SOURCE: OnePlus