OnePlus Storm of Invites has 2,500 invites up for grabs

The OnePlus One smartphone has finally started shipping to the first batch of invited buyers. But if you weren't one of those lucky enough to be chosen before, now you might have a chance to get your hands on an invite. All you've got to do is be prepared to storm your social networking sites and do whatever else this raffle tells you to.

Chinese startup OnePlus sure has one cunning marketing strategy. After building up hype around its first ever smartphone, most of which actually lived up to expectations, it has made availability of the device limited to a select few, driving up the hype even higher. It did experience a little hiccup when it delayed shipping due to some pending bug fixes, but it got over that hump quite quickly and the smartphone soon set sail for expecting owners' hands.

If you are not among those would-be owners yet, OnePlus is now giving you a chance to be one. That is, if your luck holds out. It is holding 2,500 invites in a raffle. The requirements are so simple, you'll probably worry that you will be up against tens of thousands of eager participants. Simply sign up for the raffle using your Facebook account or email and perform the steps indicated, which usually equates to tweeting about the OnePlus One every day. You will do this all up to June 24, when the raffle ends.

In exchange for flooding your networks with OnePlus Ones, you will have the chance to nab 1 of 2,500 invites to buy a 64 GB Sandstone Black OnePlus One smartphone. Remember, this is just an invitation and you will still have to pay the full amount of $349 for the device, However, one extremely lucky fellow will be able to get one, just one, of these for absolutely free.

In case you might have forgotten why it is such a big thing, perhaps it would be well to review the features of the OnePlus One. These include a 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801, 3 GB of RAM, a 5.5-inch 1080p display, a 13 megapixel Sony Exmor RS lens, the community-driven CyanogenMod custom Android ROM, and a unique tapered edge design to give it a bit of personality. All of these features that you would find in high-end smartphones do not come with their price tag. The OnePlus One costs as low as $299 for a 16 GB model, which is definitely a bargain for such an Android smartphone.

SOURCE: OnePlus