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Amazon Fire Phone

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Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#311

Post by liricooli »

drcode wrote: post #176
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 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.

I don't think this perspective is correct regarding to the current different business models these companies have.

Apple: We sell an experience of software and hardware. Google: We sell ads, based on data we gather from our users. Amazon: We sell commodities\services as close as possible to the marginal utility, so we're very competitive.

Altough each of these tech giants are competing, each has quite a different strategy.

As for the Fire phone, I think that Amazon realized that they could deliver an excellent shopping experience from the mobile phone. This would enable massive future growth: Think about going home in the train and buying groceries instead of driving to your nearest Wallmart.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#312

Post by return0 »

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 would like to see a phone with a wheel on the side for scrolling.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#313

Post by XorNot »

brianpgordon wrote: post #290
mwfunk wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Market share is only meaningful if the lack of market share makes a particular product untenable. For example, if someone came out with a new platform that was incompatible with everything else- a lack of apps in the beginning is a huge hurdle to overcome, and the platform may die before achieving a critical mass of third-party support. That is clearly not the case with Amazon. "Just increases their profits" is prett…

Fair enough. Still, Amazon is already making money. Amazon making money isn't news. The question on everyone's mind is whether this will actually make a difference in the smartphone market.

Actually its whether this will make any money at all. Amazon shipping a dump truck of money off a cliff is also news.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#314

Post by personZ »

mwfunk wrote: post #291
personZ wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's core business is making services that people like to use. That they monetize some of those services via advertisements is a function of the industry that they operate in: There was no market for a pay search engine, or even a pay consumer mail provider: Those genres had long been supported by ads, and users expected that. Anything else was a non-starter.

Their core business is that monetization, by definition. Making services that people like to use is what they do to feed that core business, not vice versa. They are constantly scrambling to find different ways to make money because they are a company run by extremely wealthy and intelligent people who would love for all of the great things they do to be in service of some core business other than selling targeted ad…

Their core business is that monetization, by definition.

The NFL is primarily sponsored through network agreements, which themselves are primarily sponsored through advertisers. Is the "core business" of the NFL, then, advertising?

Of course it isn't. Such an argument is specious to the point of uselessness, and only appears in the form of rhetoric. The NFL's core business is making an entertaining sports product that people like watching, and then they find ways to monetize from that.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#315

Post by chris_mahan »

georgemcbay wrote: post #260
localhost wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/am…

Only one data point, but I'm a Prime customer that spends significantly more than $1340 a year on Amazon and I have a Nexus 5 which costs just a little more than half what this Amazon phone costs. I don't need a "budget" phone, I can afford something much higher-end; but I still like to get value for price and in the face of the Nexus 5, the Moto G, the Moto E or the Lumia 635 all of which cost half or even less than…

Same here.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#316

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#317

Post by mreiland »

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 depends on what they use the movements for. If it allows me to navigate more things with a single hand without me looking like a white man trying to boogy down, then I'm all for it.

edit: plus, if they really have strong kindle/amazon streaming, they could be looking to try and take some of hulu/netflix's thunder.

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#318

Post by evolve2k »

"For a limited time, Fire phone comes with 1,000 Amazon Coins (a $10 value) for apps, games, and in-app purchases. Plus, save up to 10% anytime you use Amazon Coins."

Re: Amazon Fire Phone

#319

Post by JohnTHaller »

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…

You tilt the screen to activate the alternate view and now you can't see it due to the angle of the sun.
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