I was expecting them to meet the Nexus line at $299, since Amazon's M-O with tech devices is to make them cheap, affordable, and locked in to their ecosystem, a

I was expecting them to meet the Nexus line at $299, since Amazon's M-O with tech devices is to make them cheap, affordable, and locked in to their ecosystem, a la the Kindle, Fire, TV, etc. I was going to buy one at that price for the novelty of Amazon's first phone. Then they released it at the price for the most premium phones on the market. I'm pretty sure 95% of the tech world saw this coming.