Citing Poor Sales...Amazon Fire Phone now 99 cents

[spuwho]

Per the New York Times:

Amazon Cuts Struggling Phone's Price to 99 Cents

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/technology/amazon-struggling-fire-phone.html?_r=0



SAN FRANCISCO — Sixty thousand people vied to attend the unveiling of Amazon's first smartphone in late June.

If only the retailer could persuade those fans — or anyone, really — to actually buy the device. The Amazon Fire is threatening to become the Amazon Fizzle.

On Monday, Amazon took a drastic step to avert disaster, announcing that it would charge 99 cents for the phone, basically giving it away if users signed a two-year contract with AT&T, the exclusive carrier.

Amazon has money to burn, and a relentless determination. But some analysts still wondered if a price drop of almost $200 was enough.

"If history is any indication, this doesn't usually work," said Wayne Lam, a senior analyst with IHS Technology. He noted that the so-called Facebook phone quickly dropped to 99 cents last year but never gained a foothold in the market.

The price cut gets the Fire phone closer to the company's classic model of giving away hardware in the expectation that users will order enough from Amazon to make it worthwhile. Buyers of the phone still get a year of free Prime, Amazon's shipping and video club, which normally costs $99.

[thekillingwax]

It has some neat features but because amazon won't allow the google maketplace, it can't do much of anything. My wife has a kindle fire tablet and it's so locked down that it's almost silly- all she uses it for now is the occasional book. I don't know if the silk browser supports it, but there's not even a standalone youtube app.

[spuwho]

If someone finds a way to root the phone and dump Amazons spyware OS, 99 cents will get you a good HSUPA/LTE smartphone that runs Android.

The biggest issue with the Fire Phone is when all of the Amazon data collection agents are running, it drains the battery big time.

It is constantly mining for data using the GPS, the microphone and the camera and sending those metrics to Amazon hosts. It does this so they can "optimize" your experience.

So if you are listening to the radio and listening to Mozart, the mic will pick it up and start marketing classical music at you. Or offer you Amazon music subscriptions or Amazon Prime specials.

Personally I think it's over the top.

While not generally reported, several Amazon investors are getting miffed at the CEO for the losses they have faced.

Looking at the Taj Mahal they are building in Seattle's Belltown for the new HQ, they are definitely not hurting for dough.