The rise of Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has been impressive, and today it has revealed that is has sold more than 500,000 OnePlus One handsets since it was first announced in April this year.
The figure was revealed in an interview with Forbes , and the company’s co-founder Carl Pei said there’s now a stretch goal of one million units before the end of the year.
Perhaps more impressive than the sales numbers of the fledgling device maker is the fact that all of this has been achieved on a marketing budget of just $300 – all of which was spent experimenting with different types of Facebook ads. “We found that we’ve now reached a critical mass of users, and they are helping us spread the word organically,” Pei said.
However, while its handsets are selling faster than the company can make them , Pei also revealed that OnePlus was making less than $10 profit on each device. As such, maintaining this high volume of sales will be critical to enable the company to grow and expand its product line.
➤ OnePlus’ Smartphones Sell Strongly, 2014 Aim Is One Million Handsets [Via Engadget ]
Netflix reveals a seal of approval for streaming-optimized TVs
Netflix has revealed a seal of approval for smart TVs that are smarter than the average smart TV. The new ‘Netflix Recommended TV’ logo will be slapped on sets that feature simple navigation, speedy Netflix app performance and other features to make streaming easier.
T he first models bearing the Netflix Recommended TV logo will hit stores this spring. Netflix says it expects models from Sony, LG, Sharp, VIZIO and manufacturers of Roku TVs to be among them.
The Netflix Recommended program is US-only for now. Netflix will announce the criteria for being recommended later in the spring but they are expected to include instant-on, faster app launch and faster resume for video playback.
Fitbit sprints past 1M Android app downloads, is now compatible with 44 Android and iOS devices
Nike, Jawbone, Withings, Samsung and Apple . All of these companies – and many more besides – are building hardware to track your health. While that puts an ever-increasing amount of pressure on Fitbit, the fitness tracking startup said today that it had passed one million app downloads on the Google Play store.
The Android app was released in March 2012 , but until now, Fitbit has only supported a select number of smartphones. As of January, syncing only worked with 26 Android and iOS devices, which no doubt limited its growth .
To coincide with the one million milestone, Fitbit today announced that its sleep and fitness trackers are now compatible with 44 iOS and Android devices in total. While that’s still only a slice of the total Android market, it represents a huge step forward for its software and hardware ecosystem.
The new HTC One (M8), announced yesterday , also comes with deep Fitbit integration . The app comes pre-installed, but it also features in BlinkFeed and the device itself can be used to log basic fitness metrics.
➤ Press Release (via TechCrunch )
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