2 year ATT contract?
I think we've found the problem.
Amazon's much-hyped Fire Phone was the talk of the town when it finally appeared in June, but the buzz died down quickly, and these days it seems like the e-commerce giant can hardly give the thing away – not that it isn't going to try. On Monday, Amazon slashed the price of its mobe to just 99 cents, provided customers sign …
Not to mention that up until the price cut, they were pricing it the same as a iPhone 5S or what the GS5 was at launch. If they'd started with a 99 cent price they might have generated more interest, but they wasted all the launch hype by releasing it as overpriced for what it was.
Not to mention that they'll piss off all 12 current owners of Fire phones by cutting the price by $200 only a couple months after launch. At least when Apple made a $200 price cut on original iPhone a couple months after launch they had the courtesy to make it up to the early adopters.
Yeah, there is NO discount. For a 2 year subsidy contract, you pay 99 cents upfront for a Fire Phone I wish the US Trade Commission would start calling the telco's (and others like Amazon) out on this. "Free" Phones really, really aren't when you pay a subsidy like that. Its just "Zero down and pay it off for two years."
Exactly. No one wants to switch to the shittiest provider a.k.a. AT&T by default, much less for a brand-new, never-heard-of new Android phone.
And even if you would give it a run it only comes unlocked with a $450 price tag - you gotta be freakin' kidding me, Mr Bezos. Even if I consider the 1-year free Prime extension tacked on ($99) it's still $350 upfront... why on Earth Amazon does not offer *any* payment plan, like T-Mobile's highly successful Equipment Installment Plan (EIP) where it is decoupled from your plan and you pay its monthly fee independently?
Amazon should drop it's price to $399 and offer it with an optional payment plan with no strings attached - just like TMO does wiuth EIP, they even take the phone back anytime (sans refurb offerings), clearing off any remaining payments (sort of like renting your phone.)
Fork…fire - anyone got any marshmallows…? How's about bread…? Crumpets? Muffins? Pikelets? Teacakes? Hot cross buns? Waffles?
Talking of waffle, I'll shut up now… I know most of you don't understand how my mind works (much if the time, even *I* don't understand how it works… or even IF it works…)
Good grief ... I spend NZ$19 a month for more phone service than I need (especially minutes and SMS). In 24 months that's $456 or US$377 at today's rate.
The Fire is only $0.99 on an $80 per month two year contract. A total $1920.99 commitment. Without a contract it's $449. And locked to AT&T.
Pah, I see your € 9,99 a month and raise you my € 5 a month for data and about a € 10 a year for calls.
After I discovered a positive correlation between the number of friends and phone charges, it was a simple decision to reduce the number of my friends! Mine's the one with "How to lose friends and piss people off".
Because laws and regulations against false advertising was deemed "unconstitutional" and threatened "the free market" and stifled personhooded corporations "free speech rights."
In case some people are just now getting the news, the U.S. is a total fascist nation, slowing becoming a totalitarian fascist nation.
As of yesterday, you can get instant prime video on stock android phones. It was added yesterday afternoon, just make sure your amazon app is updated and you can then use it to download the amazon instant prime video app.
It's not enough to make me keep prime after it runs out later this year, but it's close.
The Amazon Fire - for folk with money to burn.
The Amazon Fire - there's no escape…
Not the best, but I'm very tired, only not in a 'I need to crash' way, more of a 'so weak I can barely breathe, never mind stand' way. I'm 95% convinced I've Graves' disease (or hyperthyroidism in some form) but the useless NHS test says my thyroid's in 100% tippety-top condition, working perfectly! That's cos it only measures TSH, and abnormal TSH only accounts for around 10% of malfunctioning thyroids.
I've had it with the NHS - this country doesn't HAVE a healthcare service. D'ya know what the NHS's only solution to hyperthyroidism is…?! Destroying it. If radioactive iodine don't do it, they simply rip it out yer neck. The NHS is FAR TOO FOND of ripping bits out - it doesn't CURE anything. That's not a CURE, cos you're now dependent on artificial thyroxine forever.
Okay, I'm done. I HATE the NHS.
They launched their tablet at Ipad prices and then tied it into BB ecosystem / account, a la Apple.
Made it so restrictive (despite the good hardware), that pissed of potential punters, except BB diehards who already had their accounts and phones with BB. WTF.
To think that Amazon never learnt from other's mistake defies belief. Ditto Facebook.
What was Bezos thinking? That he is mightier than Apple? Can replicate Apple's success? And by making this Phone even more restrictive than Apple's?
Something stinks about Jeff Bezos these days ! Online retail success gone to his head. Dangerous territory, he is in.
Nah, this is nothing like that, it is a valid option, they are just awfully clueless at marketing and execution, it seems.
This phone runs an Android fork and since Amazon is one of the few real app store owners they could easily make it successful - but not at this price point (market is waaay too saturated for this, they have to "buy in" to get meaningful market share) and definitely not by tying it to the most abhorrent, most disgusting, shittiest provider in America (they need to offer it through T-Mobile etc or AT LEAST make it available unlocked with an interest-free monthly payment plan with zero down payment.)
At ~$17/month w/ an extra year of Amazon Prime extension added to my account I'd get one for my wife to tame her oniomania - but the current offerings (AT&T or $450) are very far from anything I'm willing to even just seriously consider...
Do you ever wonder how much other people's possessions are worth but are frustrated that you do not have the technology to find out? Do not worry, The Amazon Fire Phone includes a feature called firefly. What you do is take a photograph of each your neighbor's possessions. The phone then identifies the possession and automatically adds it to your Amazon cart. It has never been so easy to keep up with the Joneses.
......in Amazon's mobe at all. The impression I get from threads in non-tech magasines attached to consumer articles about the product is that hoi poloi greeted Bezos' efffort with complete disinterest - a response that IMHO is far more deadly for their image/strategy.