Nothing unveils AI-native Essential OS and apps

Carl Pei's Nothing Inc. forayed into to consumer electronics arena in January 2021, and within a month, it acquired Essential Products, a dead mobile company owned by Andy Rubin (Android co-founder and ex-Google senior executive).

Many believed that Nothing would bring the Essential's unique narrow-bodied phones like a TV remote to the market, but never saw the light of day. London-based company introduced a different phone with a see-through design, which also got a good reception.

Now, Nothing Inc. has announced an Essential-branded operating system, which will run the Artificial Intelligence-centric smartphone.

The company says the Essential OS and apps will allow users to create their own applications and a hyper-personalised experience on the phone.

For instance, a user can ask the Essential app on the phone to create an app that sees all the appointments in the calendar, real-time traffic data and weather, and display all the relevant details concisely with a banner on the home screen, first thing in the morning.

Essential Playground platform.

The company says Essential apps will transform the way users interact with their smartphones.

"Essential represents a new, AI-powered era for the smartphone experience, where every user has their own, unique OS that adapts to their needs and behaviours," says the company.

The Essential apps will also be compatible with existing and upcoming Nothing phones. They promise to deliver completely unique experience compared to Android apps.

Essential apps displayed on Nothing's Playground platform.

“With Essential, we begin to chip away at the outdated and elitist system set up by the legacy market leaders. A new era requires new thinking. The future of software will be one of unrestricted access, collective innovation, and hyper-personalisation. Moats of the past will be dismantled, opening the door to a truly user-led future," said Carl Pei, CEO of Nothing.

Interested software developers can try developing an app at Essential's Playground platform (here). There, developers can create their own or try re-mixing features of an existing app with their own and improve it further.

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