OnePlus One Dropping Invites, Pre-Orders Start This Week‏

OnePlus is looking to get rid of the invite system on the OnePlus One, after using it as the only way for customers to buy their smartphone for a few months.

After complaints railed against the company for their failure to provide customers with smartphones after months of waiting, OnePlus will finally open their doors to pre-orders, starting on October 27.

The news was revealed on OnePlus’ Reddit AMA, where they announced pre-orders would be coming to Android fans in October 2014. The company originally planned to have pre-orders go up in September, but due to technical problems, this was delayed for a month.

OnePlus has had some controversial ways of attaining the OnePlus One over the past few months – including the customer smashing their perfectly fine old-phone, to get a free OnePlus One replacement device.

This ticked a few people off, especially those unhappy with customers breaking their devices, when they could be recycled for more money or simply sold second-hand. OnePlus dropped this promotion after a few weeks, along with a few others.

OnePlus One will have a harder time in the current market than they would if they started pre-orders a few months ago. The Nexus 6 looks to be the new best-phone for Android fans, along with the Moto X and other new flagships.

This might be a lesson for Oppo, the owners of the OnePlus brand, to try a more traditional marketing approach next time. Even though the OnePlus One excited a lot of Android fans, the delays and let-downs lost them a ton of fans.

We currently have no date when OnePlus One will be available for general sale. There is a one-day sale happening this month, alongside OnePlus’ continued invite system.