"Nothing" Phone (1) invitation? I'm 33,557th in line to pre-order! Help!

TL;DR

• You can join the waiting list to (maybe) pre-order the Nothing Phone (1)—only Europe, China and UK.
• You'll have to pay a small deposit (deducted from the final price of the smartphone at the checkout).
• Quantities are obviously limited and the number of participants exceeds 50,000 people.
• Nothing's Phone 1 won't be coming to North America.

For several months now, I've been wanting to write a big mood piece about the "sneakerization" of the smartphone market. Today, to buy a pair of Nike, Adidas or New Balance shoes, you have to sign up for raffles—such an awkward term—and pray that the Holy Spirits of the brands' biased algorithms will select you and make you a winner.

If this miracle happens to you, you'll be granted the privilege of giving them your hard-earned money to buy your pair of sneakers in this manner, thus avoiding having to buy them from retailers at inflated prices.

Waiting list and a small deposit to pre-order the Nothing Phone (1)

Whew, I'm catching my breath after this 4-line sentence! But basically, what is done on the sneaker market is slowly moving to the smartphone market. And Nothing, THE hype tech brand of the moment, seems to want to be the pioneer in this field.

So, to have the chance to pre-order a Nothing Phone smartphone (1), you have to register on a waiting list via the Nothing's official website. As I write this, I'm number 33,557 - ah no! Number 33.558 in the running for the Grail. You can increase your chances by asking your friends and family to sign up via your referral link in an attempt to move up the list.

But that's not all, if you receive confirmation of your participation in the pre-order phase, you have 48 hours to click on the link that will be sent to you by Nothing. You will then have to pay a deposit of 20 euros—or £20 if you are based in the UK—to reserve your Nothing Phone (1). These amount will be refunded and you will also get an additional 20€/£20 credit on Nothing accessories, like Nothing Earphones (1), maybe?

Bear in mind that if you are in North America, joining the waiting list doesn't apply to you. In a statement sent to PCMag, the company informed that Nothing (1) phone will not be coming to the US or Canada: 

While we’d love to bring phone (1) to the entire community around the world, we're focusing on home markets, including the UK and Europe, where we have strong partnerships with leading local carriers. It takes a lot to launch a smartphone as you know, from ensuring the handset is supported by the country’s cellular technologies to carrier partnerships and local regulation, and as we're still a young brand we need to be strategic about it.

Finally, on July 12, 2022, when the Nothing Phone (1) will be officially launched, you will receive a last email to order your model. I'm not going to grumble any more about this business model, which I find aggressive to say the least. But I'll see you around, Nothing!

What do you think about this waiting list system? Will you try your luck?