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Amazon Fire Phone

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Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#201

Post by maxerickson »

nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

Are the very low margin phone customers desirable media customers?

When I look at my low margin phone and service and almost non existent media consumption (nothing beyond shared cable or free streaming), I sort of doubt it.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#202

Post by jobu »

epochwolf wrote: post #122
jobu wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AT&T made significant changes to their plans earlier this year, so buying a 2-year contract from them is now a terrible idea. You're much better using their installment plan or just paying full price for the phone.

Is there a place I can see these plan changes?

Here's a chart:

http://www.att.com/media/att/2014/support/images/MSV_Image_3...

With a 10GB plan you end up paying $800 for the phone ($199 up-front, and $25mo extra) under the 2 year commitment plan. Definitely a better deal to just pay $650 up-front.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#203

Post by dkrich »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #170
nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

This is interesting I think... iPad: Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 Apple TV: Kindle Fire TV, Chromecast iTunes: Amazon Prime Streaming TV + now music, Google Play iPhone: Kindle Fire Phone, Nexus 4 I think they're all playing for the same territory. The big difference seems to be that Apple really only sells the technology. Google sells the technology so that they can sell advertising for third party products. Amazon has the…

You're saying that Amazon will be the big winner in the long run because they can control the phone, and the products you buy on Amazon?

If I'm interpreting that correctly, I don't see how that holds. People use smartphones/tablets/televisions to consume many things. Amazon products are just one of them.

I don't think that just because controlling the entire product ecosystem would work to Amazon's advantage means that customers will want a phone that enables that end-to-end control.

The end-to-end control works well for the Kindle, because eReaders are used really only for reading the books that are available only on Amazon's eReader marketplace. But I can shop Amazon from any device I want. So having a phone that owns that experience isn't a major value proposition for me. I'm much more interested in things like display, battery life, camera quality, sound quality, and the phone's popularity than which product ecosystem it taps into.

To me Amazon is working from a major disadvantage here. The technology doesn't seem mind-blowing, the device at first blush doesn't look remarkably different from what's already available, and since phones are largely subsidized by carriers, most customers aren't going to be hugely price-sensitive. If anything, people opt for the most expensive, newest phones. If Amazon is looking for the people who will spend the most money, they certainly won't be interested in customers who think $199 is too much to spend for a new phone that they will use every day for at least two years (which is a moot point since the phone is priced at $199).

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#204

Post by localhost »

nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

Prime customers are Amazon's highest spending customers. They, according to this report[1], spend more than 2x what non-Prime customers spend - $1340 / year. Prime customers aren't likely to be swayed by a low-cost, budget phone. So it makes sense for them to tie their premium Fire Phone to this segment of their customer base.

This also doesn't mean they can't do a budget phone later.

[1] http://bgr.com/2013/12/17/amazon-prime-spending-study-cirp/

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#205

Post by jobu »

Zelphyr wrote: post #109
jobu wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon has consistently impressed me with their customer service, so Mayday struck me as a pretty awesome feature: "Simply hit the Mayday button in quick actions and an Amazon expert will appear to help you via live video."

I suspect Mayday is targeted more at older users (e.g.; my parents and grandparents). Which is why it doesn't really appeal to me much since, as someone who works in technology, I'm less inclined to need it. Still, you're right that Amazon offers great customer service so I'll give them props for Mayday.

Who do your parents and grandparents go to for help with their phones? In my family everyone comes to me, so even as a fairly technical person this Mayday feature seems great. :-)

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#206

Post by drcode »

IBM wrote: post #193
drcode wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make a good point: Apple: Sell at high price, modest tie-in revenue. Google: Sell at low price, modest tie-in revenue. Amazon: Sell at low price, high tie-in revenue. It does seem like Amazon is bound to win in the long run, based on pure economics, if this trend continues.

Except it isn't being sold at a low price, and doesn't really offer anything valuable to the customer that differentiates it from the competition. The implicit deal was always the product is sold at cost so they can encourage sales on the store, why would anyone pay full price for this?

Fair enough, but I suspect the profit margins on this phone are pretty slim, given the hardware features. I think Bezos figured the high end hardware was necessary to initially break into the market.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#207

Post by adamio »

jisaacks wrote: post #138
nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

> Searching via photos is awesome, but the only use case it seems well suited for is shopping. If I was bitten by a snake, spider, etc. I'd love to be able to snap a picture to quickly identify it and know whether or not to rush to the ER.

Extra steps are always best in an emergency...

~~~

Spider: Have a painful bite on the house!

User: "Spider say cheese!"

User: "Amazon Phone is this spider poisonous"

Amazon Phone: Searching. This Spider does appear to be poisonous.

User: "Amazon Phone call Uber 911"

Amazon Phone: Calling Uber 911

Uber 911: Can you collect the spider to take to the ER?

User: "Yes, I'll do that"

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#208

Post by jeroen »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #170
nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

This is interesting I think... iPad: Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 Apple TV: Kindle Fire TV, Chromecast iTunes: Amazon Prime Streaming TV + now music, Google Play iPhone: Kindle Fire Phone, Nexus 4 I think they're all playing for the same territory. The big difference seems to be that Apple really only sells the technology. Google sells the technology so that they can sell advertising for third party products. Amazon has the…

Amazon is the only one with a physical goods tie-in, but Apple also sells apps, songs, books and films. I think Tim Cook recently mentioned 75 billion app downloads.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#209

Post by antidaily »

hershel wrote: post #186
nostromo wrote: post #120

The market positioning here seems very un-Amazon. "Your margin is my opportunity" is probably my favorite Bezosism. Given that perspective and Apple's very cushy margins, I expected Amazon not to approach the market with an expensive phone packed with new features, but to approach the market from the bottom, with a good phone that is free or nearly free. The problem, of course, is that Google seems to have that segme…

Maybe the reason amazon prices that way, is that it's really expensive ? It seems that the most expensive thing here would be the mayday service. And maybe it's the killer feature here? One big reason why seniors buy the iphone is that there are classes in the apple store which help them learn to use the device and overcome their fear of tech.So mayday could work well for that segment. Also, many tech people hate com…

Mayday response times are excellent, apparently. I can see it's value with older people not used to smartphones.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#210

Post by Consultant32452 »

dkrich wrote: post #203
Consultant32452 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting I think... iPad: Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 Apple TV: Kindle Fire TV, Chromecast iTunes: Amazon Prime Streaming TV + now music, Google Play iPhone: Kindle Fire Phone, Nexus 4 I think they're all playing for the same territory. The big difference seems to be that Apple really only sells the technology. Google sells the technology so that they can sell advertising for third party products. Amazon has the…

You're saying that Amazon will be the big winner in the long run because they can control the phone, and the products you buy on Amazon? If I'm interpreting that correctly, I don't see how that holds. People use smartphones/tablets/televisions to consume many things. Amazon products are just one of them. I don't think that just because controlling the entire product ecosystem would work to Amazon's advantage means th…

Google sells you a device so they can show you an ad encouraging you to buy a rake. In turn Google gets a sliver of the profits from selling a rake in the form of ad revenue.

Amazon sells you a device so they can show you an ad encouraging you to buy a rake. Amazon sells you the rake, has it delivered in 2 days, and makes 100% of the profit.

It's not that people will actively look for that integration, but that it exists gives Amazon a significant advantage imho.

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