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erm, they slashed it to 99c, as the article mentions, but it still has not gotten any significant traction - full blown write off. it's just a shit device by a

erm, they slashed it to 99c, as the article mentions, but it still has not gotten any significant traction - full blown write off. it's just a shit device by a company that seems to try to emulate apple on some fronts, but without the taste or acumen for proper hardware and software. AWS and Kindles are great. never seen a Fire tablet in wild.

steven777400 12y ago
Just for complete transparency, 99c is the contract price, so you are still paying for the phone, it's just built in to a higher monthly service cost. The off-contract price for the fire phone is currently $449 on Amazon's website. Compare that to the Moto G which is off-contract at less than half the price and still a very usable and featured phone.
WalterSear 12y ago
Amazon's Lab 126 is micromanaged from two states away by Jeff Bezos. It's a toxic environment where only yes-men can thrive. It doesn't help that Jeff Bezos runs Amazon like a miserly cornerstore Wallmart - looking everywhere he can to cut corners, to the detriment of his staff and his product. I'm impressed that they have been able to iteratively improve on the Kindle. Given what I have seen, I would hazard that with upper management's obsessive spotlight focused on the Phone and Tablet, the Kindle developers have been able to get on with their work. The same may be the case for AWS - no longer a sexy new market, and consequently able to get on with it's work.
- kolev 12y ago
  I've heard terrible things about Lab 126 and I'm happy I've turned down several of their job offers already. I hear backstabbing is daily business over there, everybody can submit an anonymous reviews for your coworkers to your manager, and the whole environment is a zero-sum game. I'm a big fan of Jeff Bar, Werner Vogels, and, of course, Jeff Bezos, but, I guess, this is another instance of "far from the sight, far from the heart"!
  - WalterSear 12y ago
    IMHO, Jeff Bezos is at the center of the problem.
    - kolev 12y ago
      You probably are right. I like him as the guy who shaped out Amazon the way it is today (AWS and the store), but I'm not sure I'd be willing to work for him. The whole Android forking and Appstore was a terrible idea although I understand the motives.

steven777400 12y ago

Just for complete transparency, 99c is the contract price, so you are still paying for the phone, it's just built in to a higher monthly service cost. The off-contract price for the fire phone is currently $449 on Amazon's website. Compare that to the Moto G which is off-contract at less than half the price and still a very usable and featured phone.

WalterSear 12y ago

Amazon's Lab 126 is micromanaged from two states away by Jeff Bezos. It's a toxic environment where only yes-men can thrive. It doesn't help that Jeff Bezos runs Amazon like a miserly cornerstore Wallmart - looking everywhere he can to cut corners, to the detriment of his staff and his product. I'm impressed that they have been able to iteratively improve on the Kindle. Given what I have seen, I would hazard that with upper management's obsessive spotlight focused on the Phone and Tablet, the Kindle developers have been able to get on with their work. The same may be the case for AWS - no longer a sexy new market, and consequently able to get on with it's work.

kolev 12y ago
I've heard terrible things about Lab 126 and I'm happy I've turned down several of their job offers already. I hear backstabbing is daily business over there, everybody can submit an anonymous reviews for your coworkers to your manager, and the whole environment is a zero-sum game. I'm a big fan of Jeff Bar, Werner Vogels, and, of course, Jeff Bezos, but, I guess, this is another instance of "far from the sight, far from the heart"!
- WalterSear 12y ago
  IMHO, Jeff Bezos is at the center of the problem.
  - kolev 12y ago
    You probably are right. I like him as the guy who shaped out Amazon the way it is today (AWS and the store), but I'm not sure I'd be willing to work for him. The whole Android forking and Appstore was a terrible idea although I understand the motives.