The Fire phone debacle

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #3

>"it now sells for 99 cents" (OP) // Where can I get one for 99c, in UK on ebay [new] they're about £200 (~$300) on O2 network or £250 unlocked. Lowest monthly for a contract is £28.

I'm going to guess that's 99c on contract. So not really 99c at all.

Re: The Fire phone debacle

#6

Post by delecti » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 9:38 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #3

>"it now sells for 99 cents" (OP) // Where can I get one for 99c, in UK on ebay [new] they're about £200 (~$300) on O2 network or £250 unlocked. Lowest monthly for a contract is £28.

The other commenter is correct, it's $0.99 with a 2 year contract to ATT. It's $450 off-contract, though it was briefly $200 off-contract late last year.

Re: The Fire phone debacle

#7

Post by blhack » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 9:41 PM UTC

I wonder if we'll ever see on-demand assembly of stuff like this.

Amazon doesn't have to invest anything into phones that might not get sold, just "raw materials" that get assembled into phones on demand in their fullfillment centers.

Any unassmbled processors, screens, cameras, etc. just get sold back onto the market if the phone doesn't gain success.

Re: The Fire phone debacle

#8

Post by bunderbunder » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 9:42 PM UTC

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #3

>"it now sells for 99 cents" (OP) // Where can I get one for 99c, in UK on ebay [new] they're about £200 (~$300) on O2 network or £250 unlocked. Lowest monthly for a contract is £28.

It says that's the price with a contract. So it's not really $0.99, it's $0.99 plus a monthly installment you agree to pay over the next two years, which will be rolled into the rest of your wireless service charge.

US cellular providers have very opaque pricing so it's hard to tell how much those installments really are. But usually when you have the option to buy a phone with or without a contract, the spread's $400-$500. That strongly implies the real price is about $401-$501, amortized over 24 months.

Long story short, using the perverse mathematics of United States mobile phone pricing, the £200 you're finding is about 3/4 of the $0.99 the article says Americans are paying.

Re: The Fire phone debacle

#9

Post by bengali3 » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 9:47 PM UTC

> As an investor you have to ask yourself, Is this company doing too many things?

I'd be more inclined to ask: Are they winning at enough things? If no, then are they doing enough things?

One of my favorite quotes that I gathered last year is from Jeff: "Risk is a necessary component of progress"

Re: The Fire phone debacle

#10

Post by sekasi » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 9:49 PM UTC

Bold or irresponsible move? Not sure. Given the incredibly low profit margin of most non-iphone smartphones on the market today (I think the average samsung profit margin on a phone is $11) I can't help but wonder what the real source of revenue was planned to be.

Increased shopping through mobile? Make your android/ios products better?

It just never made any sense, but I guess many successful products don't make initial sense either.