Amazon has reported rather disastrous numbers this quarter, with $544 million in operating loss and another $600 million to follow in Q4. A good chunk of this operating loss comes from the Fire Phone, Amazon’s first smartphone.
The Fire Phone has not had anywhere near the results Amazon was hoping for, costing the e-commerce giant $170 million in inventory space. Amazon is currently sitting on $84 million of unwanted Fire Phone stock.
One of the major reasons for the Fire Phone failing to sell, according to Head of Devices David Limp, is the price of the smartphone. Amazon started selling the Fire Phone at $199 (£199) on contract, but quickly dropped it to zero-down, after the opening weeks brought minimal sales.
It looks like the damage has already been done, even with the price drop for the Fire Phone. The iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Galaxy Note 4, Nexus 6 and Moto X all look like better deals, compared to Amazon’s phone.
Amazon’s main software feature for the Fire Phone is Firefly – while interesting to view – it is not the most interesting service on daily use, and becomes more of an advertisement center for Amazon to sell you more stuff.
That is the problem with Fire OS in general, it has too much Amazon. Compared to iOS and Android, it offers little and less.
Customers also don’t buy into niche products on a mass scale, look at the Facebook Phone and BlackPhone as two perfect examples. The iPhone, HTC One M8 and other popular phones offer a bit of everything and don’t try to define themselves by one feature of service.
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