4 ms·

Right on - the biggest (and IMO only truly relevant) reason why the Fire Phone flopped is because it doesn't benefit customers. The Fire Phone wasn't built to

Right on - the biggest (and IMO only truly relevant) reason why the Fire Phone flopped is because it doesn't benefit customers. The Fire Phone wasn't built to be a superior phone, or give customers something truly new and useful. It was built to be an Amazon Content Delivery Device. This is a phone whose primary raison d'etre is to get people to buy more stuff from Amazon. It's a distillation of a platform strategy, not the desire to produce a genuine product. Until Amazon starts coming at this with the primary goal of producing a greater, better phone - and the goal of selling more Amazon content a distant second - they will keep failing.

tiglionabbit 12y ago
I'm not sure what having so many cameras has to do with that.
- rancur 12y ago
  nobody is
qq66 12y ago
The Kindle Fire tablets are also designed to sell Amazon content, but they benefit the customer with their rock-bottom pricing which the Fire Phone did not have.
- davidw 12y ago
  I have one of the original Fire tablets, and would not buy another one if not for the express purpose of delivering Amazon content - videos in that case, since the actual reading experience is far superior on a real Kindle. It's not a bad tablet, but not having the Google apps, as well as something relatively close to stock Android, makes it not as useful as it could have been.
  - Methusalah 12y ago
    It's really worth jailbreaking it, if only for the sake of installing google play.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- delecti 12y ago
  They also benefit from the fact that tablets (at least in my experience) are primarily content consumption devices, whether that's books, videos, or games.
mgkimsal 12y ago
Well... the kindle was pretty much just a device "to get people to buy more stuff from Amazon." But there were no other competitors at the time. The fire phone was going up against a huge market of phone devices with many better features and ecosystems already.
- apozem 12y ago
  I would argue Kindles benefit the consumer in that they're also enjoyable reading experiences. You can carry a library's worth of books in your backpack on a device with a wonderful screen.
  - philwelch 12y ago
    Hell, even carrying a backpack's worth of books in your hand is a massive improvement.
  - SixSigma 12y ago
    I would argue that the connectivity was the killer feature. I have a Pre kindle Sony e-reader, same thing - whole library in your backpack. Getting those books on the thing, however, is a pain - you need a computer to go with it. My mom bought an early kindle - worldwide wifi, with email! So she bought the next kindle too.
- unepipe 12y ago
  if you like to read, the kindle paperwhite is amazing. so much better than reading on an ipad or iphone, and you can carry/instantly download so many books/pdfs you find online (browser button automatically sends it to your kindle)/etc... Great for reading, actually benefits the customer.
zrm 12y ago
> Until Amazon starts coming at this with the primary goal of producing a greater, better phone - and the goal of selling more Amazon content a distant second - they will keep failing. The strange thing is that they would have succeeded if they had just adopted their normal strategy. It would be fine if a prominent feature of the phone was that you could take a picture of any barcode on anything and have Amazon ship you one. That sort of thing isn't the problem because it's actually useful. As an example of what they're doing wrong, Amazon is charging the same 30% in their app store as Apple and Google. They should be charging 3%. Low margin is where Amazon eats. That would get more apps in their store, get all the app developers promoting their devices and put pressure on Apple and Google to charge lower rates to anyone including Amazon who wants to sell content to people locked into the competing app stores. Their competitors look like profiteers if they don't respond and lose revenue if they do. They're trying to enter a market and beat the incumbents at their own game when they could be making them play Amazon's game instead.
- ableal 12y ago
  > They should be charging 3%. Low margin is where Amazon eats. That is disturbingly insightful.
snarfy 12y ago
That's how I felt as well. It's a great phone...for amazon, not you or me. That's how you know the marketing/business types are deciding the features, not product development.

tiglionabbit 12y ago

I'm not sure what having so many cameras has to do with that.

rancur 12y ago
nobody is

qq66 12y ago

The Kindle Fire tablets are also designed to sell Amazon content, but they benefit the customer with their rock-bottom pricing which the Fire Phone did not have.

davidw 12y ago
I have one of the original Fire tablets, and would not buy another one if not for the express purpose of delivering Amazon content - videos in that case, since the actual reading experience is far superior on a real Kindle. It's not a bad tablet, but not having the Google apps, as well as something relatively close to stock Android, makes it not as useful as it could have been.
- Methusalah 12y ago
  It's really worth jailbreaking it, if only for the sake of installing google play.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
delecti 12y ago
They also benefit from the fact that tablets (at least in my experience) are primarily content consumption devices, whether that's books, videos, or games.

mgkimsal 12y ago

Well... the kindle was pretty much just a device "to get people to buy more stuff from Amazon." But there were no other competitors at the time. The fire phone was going up against a huge market of phone devices with many better features and ecosystems already.

apozem 12y ago
I would argue Kindles benefit the consumer in that they're also enjoyable reading experiences. You can carry a library's worth of books in your backpack on a device with a wonderful screen.
- philwelch 12y ago
  Hell, even carrying a backpack's worth of books in your hand is a massive improvement.
- SixSigma 12y ago
  I would argue that the connectivity was the killer feature. I have a Pre kindle Sony e-reader, same thing - whole library in your backpack. Getting those books on the thing, however, is a pain - you need a computer to go with it. My mom bought an early kindle - worldwide wifi, with email! So she bought the next kindle too.
unepipe 12y ago
if you like to read, the kindle paperwhite is amazing. so much better than reading on an ipad or iphone, and you can carry/instantly download so many books/pdfs you find online (browser button automatically sends it to your kindle)/etc... Great for reading, actually benefits the customer.

zrm 12y ago

> Until Amazon starts coming at this with the primary goal of producing a greater, better phone - and the goal of selling more Amazon content a distant second - they will keep failing. The strange thing is that they would have succeeded if they had just adopted their normal strategy. It would be fine if a prominent feature of the phone was that you could take a picture of any barcode on anything and have Amazon ship you one. That sort of thing isn't the problem because it's actually useful. As an example of what they're doing wrong, Amazon is charging the same 30% in their app store as Apple and Google. They should be charging 3%. Low margin is where Amazon eats. That would get more apps in their store, get all the app developers promoting their devices and put pressure on Apple and Google to charge lower rates to anyone including Amazon who wants to sell content to people locked into the competing app stores. Their competitors look like profiteers if they don't respond and lose revenue if they do. They're trying to enter a market and beat the incumbents at their own game when they could be making them play Amazon's game instead.

ableal 12y ago
> They should be charging 3%. Low margin is where Amazon eats. That is disturbingly insightful.

snarfy 12y ago

That's how I felt as well. It's a great phone...for amazon, not you or me. That's how you know the marketing/business types are deciding the features, not product development.