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Pete Lau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisLiu (Lau).
Pete Lau
Lưu làm hổ
Born(1975-05-05)5 May 1975(age 49)
Hanchuan,Hubei,China
Alma materZhe gian g University(BA)
Occupation(s)Co-founder andCEOofOnePlus

Pete Lau(born 5 May 1975), orLiu Zuohu(Chinese:Lưu làm hổ;pinyin:Liú Zuòhǔ;Jyutping:Lau4Zok3fu2), is a Chinese entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and thechief executive officerof ChinesesmartphonemakerOnePlus.[1]

Career in Oppo

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Lau started working inOppoas a hardware engineer. He later became the director of Oppo'sBlu-raydivision. Lau's attention for detail became famous in tech circles during that time when he smashed a Blu-ray player'slogic boardto express his disappointment about thecircuitrydesign.[2]He then became head of marketing before finally getting assigned as the Vice President. As the Vice President, he was instrumental in bringingCyanogenMod,anAndroid-based operating system, toOppo N1smartphone.[3]He resigned from Oppo in November 2013 after working in the company for over a decade.[4][5]

OnePlus

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In December 2013, Lau andCarl Peilaunched their own company named "OnePlus" with the aim of creating "a more beautiful and higher quality product." At the time of its founding, OnePlus had only 6 employees.[6]Cutting costs was a priority for the company early on, so Lau opted to sell his company's first product exclusively online, taking inspiration from market models of theNexusline and Oppo. He chose Cyanogenmod as the device's operating system and extended his ties with Stefanie Kondik of Cyanogen Inc., whom he became acquainted with during his time at Oppo.[2][3]

Since OnePlus didn't have a manufacturing facility, Lau had the device manufactured in the facilities of his former company Oppo.[7]The device named OnePlus One was announced officially in April 2014 and became available for online order in June 2014.[8]OnePlus One received positive reviews from the tech community, praising the phone's specifications, performance, design and aggressive pricing.[9][10][11]The device's attention to detail, an aspect that can be attributed to Lau, was praised by several tech experts.[12][13]Due to limited product supply, the phone was initially available for purchase through an invite-only system.[14]

The phone's pricing was discussed widely in tech media. The 16 GB version of the phone cost USD 299 while the 64 GB version cost USD 349, almost half the price of other flagship devices at that time with similar specifications. Lau attributed the low prices to the lack of marketing costs, the online marketing strategy, and low profit margins. The strategy was labelled as brave and risky for a new company by tech website Tech Radar.[15]Another tech site, Phone Arena, commented that "if OnePlus can succeed selling its smartphone without television advertising, it will have done something that the major manufacturers could never accomplish."[16]

By December 2014, nearly 1 million phones were sold.[17][18][19] OnePlus announced another OS "OxygenOS"[20]for their smartphones whenYU Televentures,a subsidiary ofMicromax,announced that they alone had permission for the use of Cyanogen OS in India.

References

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  1. ^"Q&A with Pete Lau from OnePlus on the launch of the One".Qualcomm. 2014-05-16.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  2. ^abLai, Richard (2014-04-23)."Meet the One, OnePlus' $299 Nexus killer".Engadget.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  3. ^abWenz, John (17 December 2013)."From Oppo to OnePlus: a new company wants to build the next great smartphone".The Verge.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  4. ^Pete Lau (2013-11-17)."Today is my last day at OPPO".Retrieved2015-01-21.
  5. ^Soo, Zen (12 August 2014)."[TechCrunch Beijing] Pete Lau: How Chinese Smartphone Company OnePlus Went Global in just 8 Months".TechNode.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  6. ^Yoo, Eva (30 November 2014)."Interview with OnePlus CEO Pete Lau: OnePlus One Product Philosophy".TechNode.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  7. ^Moon, Mariella (2013-12-16)."Ex-Oppo exec reveals new company OnePlus, plans to make 'the perfect smartphone'".Engadget.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  8. ^"OnePlus One - Full phone specifications".Gsmarena.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  9. ^"OnePlus One review: When opportunity strikes".GSMArena. 2014-07-09.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  10. ^Brad Molen."OnePlus One review".Engadget.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  11. ^Mundydocument, Jon (2014-05-29)."OnePlus One | Techradar India".In.techradar.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  12. ^"Hands On Review | One Plus One: Simple Math".Thedailystar.net. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-01-21.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  13. ^Raj, Hitesh (2014-12-10)."ET Review: OnePlus One a revelation at Rs 21,999 - The Economic Times".Economictimes.indiatimes.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  14. ^Sawers, Paul."OnePlus founder talks NFC, meeting demand, and what ‘never settle’ really means",14 November 2015. Accessed 10 December 2015.
  15. ^Beavisdocument, Gareth (2014-05-14)."Revealed: the reason the OnePlus One is so cheap | Techradar India".In.techradar.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  16. ^"OnePlus CEO Lau: We're selling the OnePlus One at cost".Phonearena.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  17. ^"Nearly a million units of OnePlus One sold last year - GSMArena news".Gsmarena.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  18. ^"How $300 Of Advertising Sold One Million Smartphones".Forbes.2015-01-12.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  19. ^Michael Kan."China's OnePlus targets flagship phones from big players".PCWorld.Retrieved2015-01-21.
  20. ^"OnePlus launches new ROM OxygenOS".SmartFoneArena.Retrieved12 December2015.
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