5 ms·

The whole point of the exercise is not to just ship volumes of units, but build an ecosystem (just like what Apple and Google are doing too). A budget phone do

by dotBen 12y ago

The whole point of the exercise is not to just ship volumes of units, but build an ecosystem (just like what Apple and Google are doing too). A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video and all of the other traits Amazon is looking at with it's 'Fire' ecosystem. > Forget the lame Amazon AppStore, or at least provide both -- AppStore and Google Play, and let the customer choose. Again, the point here is NOT to let the customer choose, it's to force the consumer into their ecosystem instead of Googles. Switching costs are high, so getting people hooked into the Amazon Appstore might mean a lifetime customer, etc. One of the reason Amazon has designed Fire Tablets for children. And this is another reason the Fire Phone is having a hard time - developers think the Amazon AppStore is shit.

nkozyra 12y ago
> A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video and all of the other traits Amazon is looking at with it's 'Fire' ecosystem. A "budget phone" in price may not be a budget phone in capability. Amazon surely wouldn't be the first company with a loss-leader hardware device that encourages lock-in.
themartorana 12y ago
Well, to be fair, we don't think it's shit, we just don't think there are enough potential customers for the investment. It's not just "build to another store" - my servers have to have yet another push notification service route, I need to coordinate another App Store release schedule, I have to implement another IAP framework, implement another signing path, and buy and test another set of devices. That's money, baby. Lots of it. And unlike Mr. Bezos, I don't have thousands - let alone millions - of dollars to burn. It's the same reason we don't build to Windows app store or Blackberry app store without incentives from Microsoft or Blackberry to help get us there.
- mschuster91 12y ago
  Hasn't Amazon actually gone the route of recoding all Google Play related infrastructure so that seamless porting is possible?
SomeCallMeTim 12y ago
>developers think the Amazon AppStore is shit It's not just developers they need to convince. Even moderately sophisticated customers aren't going to want to buy into a not-as-good-as-Google's ecosystem. Because it's pretty strictly worse than Google's Play Store. Some developers do go to the extra effort to support it, but not all, and almost none would create for the Amazon store without publishing on Google's.
rasz_pl 12y ago
>A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video wait what? do you realize even $40 chinese phones are 2 core 1GHz with dedicated hardware decoders for every popular codec?
- Max_Mustermann 12y ago
  Everyone keeps implying there are super cheap super good chinese phones. Is there a site that reviews these or a link where an uninitiated can check the best options out?
  - rasz_pl 12y ago
    there are super cheap phones with okish hardware, but software is universally SHIT, from broken functions, lazy implementations, to malicious rootkits and spyware in factory roms
    - yellowapple 12y ago
      To expand on this, if the phone isn't particularly well-known, then you'll end up on your own if you want to replace the ROM/firmware with, say, CyanogenMod, since there won't nearly be as much development/porting momentum as there would be for a household-name device.
  - kefka 12y ago
    Well, there is and isn't. I bought my phone from aliexpress last year. Since then, Haipai Noble has had 3 major versions, and a dozen minor hardware updates. Decide on price, and find reviews online of popular Chinese phones. Make sure the have the hardware features you want at the price you want. And then follow safe buying rules. Don't buy from low sales vendors, nor bad scored vendors.
  - maxsilver 12y ago
    Depends on what you mean by "super cheap", but : $350 Nexus 5 http://www.google.com/nexus/5/ http://www.google.com/nexus/5/ $250-ish - Lumia 1320 https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/smartphones/nokia-lumia-1320 https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/smartphones/noki... $200 - ZTE Grand X Max http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-zte-grand-x-max http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-zte-grand-x-max $180 - Motorola G http://www.motorola.com/us/Moto-G-2nd-Gen/moto-g-2nd-gen-pdp.html http://www.motorola.com/us/Moto-G-2nd-Gen/moto-g-2nd-gen-pdp... They've all gotten good reviews for their hardware. I don't think it's crazy to expect that Amazon could build a really solid "Basics" phone at around $200 - $250, since their competitors all do so with reasonable margins to spare.

by dotBen 12y ago

nkozyra 12y ago

> A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video and all of the other traits Amazon is looking at with it's 'Fire' ecosystem. A "budget phone" in price may not be a budget phone in capability. Amazon surely wouldn't be the first company with a loss-leader hardware device that encourages lock-in.

themartorana 12y ago

Well, to be fair, we don't think it's shit, we just don't think there are enough potential customers for the investment. It's not just "build to another store" - my servers have to have yet another push notification service route, I need to coordinate another App Store release schedule, I have to implement another IAP framework, implement another signing path, and buy and test another set of devices. That's money, baby. Lots of it. And unlike Mr. Bezos, I don't have thousands - let alone millions - of dollars to burn. It's the same reason we don't build to Windows app store or Blackberry app store without incentives from Microsoft or Blackberry to help get us there.

mschuster91 12y ago
Hasn't Amazon actually gone the route of recoding all Google Play related infrastructure so that seamless porting is possible?

SomeCallMeTim 12y ago

>developers think the Amazon AppStore is shit It's not just developers they need to convince. Even moderately sophisticated customers aren't going to want to buy into a not-as-good-as-Google's ecosystem. Because it's pretty strictly worse than Google's Play Store. Some developers do go to the extra effort to support it, but not all, and almost none would create for the Amazon store without publishing on Google's.

rasz_pl 12y ago

>A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video wait what? do you realize even $40 chinese phones are 2 core 1GHz with dedicated hardware decoders for every popular codec?

Max_Mustermann 12y ago
Everyone keeps implying there are super cheap super good chinese phones. Is there a site that reviews these or a link where an uninitiated can check the best options out?
- rasz_pl 12y ago
  there are super cheap phones with okish hardware, but software is universally SHIT, from broken functions, lazy implementations, to malicious rootkits and spyware in factory roms
  - yellowapple 12y ago
    To expand on this, if the phone isn't particularly well-known, then you'll end up on your own if you want to replace the ROM/firmware with, say, CyanogenMod, since there won't nearly be as much development/porting momentum as there would be for a household-name device.
- kefka 12y ago
  Well, there is and isn't. I bought my phone from aliexpress last year. Since then, Haipai Noble has had 3 major versions, and a dozen minor hardware updates. Decide on price, and find reviews online of popular Chinese phones. Make sure the have the hardware features you want at the price you want. And then follow safe buying rules. Don't buy from low sales vendors, nor bad scored vendors.
- maxsilver 12y ago
  Depends on what you mean by "super cheap", but : $350 Nexus 5 http://www.google.com/nexus/5/ http://www.google.com/nexus/5/ $250-ish - Lumia 1320 https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/smartphones/nokia-lumia-1320 https://www.cricketwireless.com/cell-phones/smartphones/noki... $200 - ZTE Grand X Max http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-zte-grand-x-max http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-zte-grand-x-max $180 - Motorola G http://www.motorola.com/us/Moto-G-2nd-Gen/moto-g-2nd-gen-pdp.html http://www.motorola.com/us/Moto-G-2nd-Gen/moto-g-2nd-gen-pdp... They've all gotten good reviews for their hardware. I don't think it's crazy to expect that Amazon could build a really solid "Basics" phone at around $200 - $250, since their competitors all do so with reasonable margins to spare.