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Amazon Fire Phone

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Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#231

Post by endergen »

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?

It's likely subsidized by the AT&T exclusive. I believe it's $200/month plus some contract. Which means they may be getting kickbacks totaling more than $200/device which would improve their margins. Or more interestingly, mean the device can be higher end and impress people more while at least not being a loss for Amazon. It's basically a store interface, leading to increased sales. Firefly is like Shazam for products, people will likely buy way more from Amazon.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#232

Post by adamio »

[deleted] wrote: post #225
adamio wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

[deleted]

The OP was indicating taking a picture of the spider then having the Amazon phone tell you if its a dangerous spider, then deciding on whether to rush to the ER or not. Sure take a picture of it and get it checked out, but this use case for this feature is a bit over the top.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#233

Post by personZ »

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…

Google sells the technology so that they can sell advertising for third party products.

I see this a lot of HN, and I wonder if people are just assuming? To put it into context, I see far more ads on my iPad and iPad Touch than I ever have on my Nexus 5.

Outside of the money Google makes from their book, video, and apps stores, they sell the technology to ensure that their services remain viable, and cannot be cut out of the market. They make the platform so Google has less concern about being cut out of the ecosystem.

I mean we see the paradox on here constantly where people will gloat about how much more valuable iOS users are to advertisers, but then that Android is a platform for ads.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#234

Post by asafira »

mgkimsal wrote: post #153
asafira wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Continuing on that train of thought, I'd guess the "Amazon experts" basically just know the UI pretty well, but they won't help much with questions the hackernews community might have.

they might not right now, but presumably all calls will be recorded for quality assurance purposes. they'll assemble a list of all questions people have, at all levels, and can improve at all levels as well. Apple's essentially owned 'end to end' for a while - they design the chips and hardware, the physical retail stores, and handle customer support. The amount of info they have on problems people have and how to op…

I agree with you that Amazon will probably feed back on the data they receive from Mayday, and I would also assume that Apple considers that data when it designs products and considers improvements. I hope that this means that the customer service will continue to increase in quality, but I think we are looking years in the future.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#235

Post by squeaky-clean »

evilduck wrote: post #117
drcode wrote: post #59

The compelling feature on this phone everyone's missing: Let's say you have to browse through a bunch of stuff on your phone. The very moment you start doing this, you have a problem: There's a #%&! finger covering up the screen now! The idea behind this phone is simple: All browsing of information is done by tilting the screen, leaving the display completely unobstructed... sure, other phones have tried to do this b…

I'm taking the opposite stance, this is a stupid gimmick until proven otherwise. Scrolling with my finger can happen on the very edge of the screen or area of interaction and it's easy to move out of viewing obstruction. Tilt-based interaction has existed for years on iOS and Android using the accelerometers. It's not a responsiveness or tracking issue, it's that interacting with screens at oblique angles is annoying…

> it's that interacting with screens at oblique angles is annoying

When I saw the tilt features, I was very confused. Tilt the phone's screen away from you in order to read Yelp reviews? What? So in order to get more details, I need to make the device harder to read. Maybe it is a good feature, but the examples just make it seem like a gimmick that will get in the way.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#238

Post by personZ »

nailer wrote: post #165
asafira wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does this seem to be targeted at Android? If anything, I would say the price differential between this and good android phones reflects that it might be more an iphone competitor if anything, and so it seems to be more targeted at Apple.

iPhone has the build quality though. This is rubber and glass, not metal. There's also a degree of app quality that iOS still has over Android - I'm an Android user: 'Secret', for example, only just came out, and it's very unstable. This is a mid-range smartphone at a premium price.

iPhone has the build quality though. This is rubber and glass, not metal.

"Build quality" is such a meaningless term in common usage of smartphones, and speaks to personal subjective aesthetics, not some utility of purpose.

And this is all particularly interesting given that there's a good chance a significant part of the new iPhones will be made with plastic. But I'm sure it'll be a "better" plastic.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#239

Post by ValentineC »

gambiting wrote: post #30

So hang on....are you telling me that $199 is the cheapest price WITH A CONTRACT?? Obviously things are different in the US,but in UK it's almost unfathomable to be paying anything for the phone if you are getting a contract. Sometimes the latest iphone will have an upfront cost of 29 pounds, but it's rare.

> in UK it's almost unfathomable to be paying anything for the phone if you are getting a contract. Sometimes the latest iphone will have an upfront cost of 29 pounds, but it's rare.

My observation is that the telcos will often offer the more expensive phones on higher tariffs, and that it's cheaper over 12/24 months to buy a phone off-contract, and then get the cheapest SIM-only plan for your needs.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#240

Post by jrells »

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…

It might be a flagship device to attract attention (gimmicky new features for differentiation) and pave the way for lower cost phones. Mayday is a great strategy too, I've always wondered why so few companies go after the tech-illiterate market.
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