Amazon Fire Phone

[Esther]

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/06/18/live-amazons-smartphone-event/

[EP123]

If there is no google play store then it will be a bust.

[kracked dude]

Why is that? Ever heard of Amazon app store?

[california]

Who makes it for them?

[MarkS]

Google Play has over 700,000 Android apps while the Amazon Appstore has about 75,000
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-play-vs-amazon-appstore-which-is-better-si/

Amazon appstore needs to do a ton of catching up before this phone can be considered a real option.

[menachem_m]

Google Play has over 700,000 Android apps while the Amazon Appstore has about 75,000

True but at the same time, 75,000 is night and daylight from 0.

[Name Changed]

http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Fire-Phone-32GB-AT/dp/B00EOE0WKQ

[MarkS]

True but at the same time, 75,000 is night and daylight from 0.

Obviously a lot of Google Plays 700,000 are worthless  but OTOH, pretty much any app that you want/need is on there.
I've found that when I needed a specific app it very often wasn't available in the Amazon store.

[menachem_m]

Seems from the default home screen, they are pushing back in this very argument.

[Wegos27]

At least you now their customer service will be good.  However, they are trying to do too much.  Their new Music store is terrible.  They need to focus on just a couple of things.

[EP123]

No Google play takes the "Android" out of the phone. It may as well be a windows phone or BlackBerry. They are just using the free OS.

Granted amazon appstore are better app gatekeepers, they actually debug apps submitted to them. But more then half the apps I use are not there. Webcame, security cam, web store backend.. etc.

I imagined Amazon taking the google route and offering a $250 top notch phone. Instead they are offering a $649 phone which will be no match to the new iphone and no match to the Galaxy S5.

The free 1 year prime does help with the cost, but I do not think that will be a deciding factor. People still do not equate Prime with videos and music, most people still thing it means free shipping.

Why did they go at&t exclusive? This is especially puzzling with the current market trend of unlocked phones. Exclusive deals with carries has been the downfall of many. Blackberry lost tremendous market share when they went exclusive on the much anticipated BB Torch (slider keyboard), if they would have released it for all carriers many would have stayed, but since they went AT&T exclusive they lost millions of customers who went android.

AT&T and apple both lost from their exclusive deal, AT&T network got overloaded and once the 2 year contract was up people were leaving then in troves because of the bad service. Apple lost as well because many people went with HTC and Moto androids because there was no iPhone on their carrier.

My forecast: At first amazon will announce that they sold out and there was more demand then expected (I am sure this PR is already prepared). Then once real numbers come in they will lower the price by at least $100.

[kracked dude]

http://www.droid-life.com/2014/06/18/amazon-fire-phone-flaw-no-google/

[DovtheBear]

$650? A bargain.

[Shmelly]

Why did they go at&t exclusive?

This was the most puzzling aspect to me. Very atypical of Jeff Bezos.

[menachem_m]

$650? A bargain.

It's 32Gb though... Apple will have to match, or it will be a bargain.

This was the most puzzling aspect to me. Very atypical of Jeff Bezos.

No one knows how much they're getting paid off. Or how much Apple got for that matter.

[MarkS]

It's 32Gb though... Apple will have to match, or it will be a bargain.
No one knows how much they're getting paid off. Or how much Apple got for that matter.

If the phone flops because of it and causes Amazon's entry to the smartphone world to be DOA I can't imagine any payoff could compensate for that..

If this becomes a repeat of the Facebook phone flop their smartphone days will start and end here. They should be doing everything to make it easy for people to hop onto their phone.

[california]

Its already #4 in electronics (not surprising..)

[MarkS]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/upshot/amazons-fire-the-real-cost-of-switching-phones.html?_r=0

Great point.
There's a "switching cost" and no compelling reason for anyone to leave Android.

Maybe they'll get some customers from people who realize they want to leave apple but are afraid of Android. Amazon is happy to do some hand holding (read restricting your ability to customize) which may be a medium between Apple and Android.

[california]

So all Apple, Samsung or Google, maker of Android software, needs to do is match Amazon’s best features, which makes shopping (on Amazon) a breeze.

And that may be precisely what Amazon wants.

[EP123]

So all Apple, Samsung or Google, maker of Android software, needs to do is match Amazon’s best features, which makes shopping (on Amazon) a breeze.

And that may be precisely what Amazon wants.

Why would google care about making shopping on Amazon easier? Amazon has an app let them update it.

It's 32Gb though... Apple will have to match, or it will be a bargain.
No one knows how much they're getting paid off. Or how much Apple got for that matter.

The days of $100 difference in pricing for more gig (649/16g 749/32gb 849/64gb) are numbered. Aside for the fact that it makes no sense, those prices perhaps made more sense at the debut of the first iphone, but today the cost difference to manufacture a 16gb chip vs a 32gb chip is tiny. I forecast apple starting at 32gb for the base. If not the iPhone6 then the 6s.