What Amazon Phone Could Mean - InformationWeek

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Comments
What Amazon Phone Could Mean
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Lorna Garey
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Lorna Garey,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 6:39:54 PM
Re: Backlash
That's certainly true. However, the last thing Amazon wants is to be equated with Walmart in the upscale consumer's mind. I know I have seen opposition to Walmart opening in some towns out of fear that it will kill downtown and sink small businesses. One day, people woke up and realized that there are no more independent bookstores. Amazon's fault?

I'm not saying that's necessarily fair -- ebooks in general and the recession contributed. But often perception is reality.
Shane M. O'Neill
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50%
Shane M. O'Neill,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 3:31:13 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
Yep, a deal on hardware only gets you so far. How can Amazon work around pricey data plans? Build its own? Maybe eventually. Also, the Amazon app store is weak, at least compared to Apple and Google. I'll reserve judgment until the product is actually unveiled, but it's up against a lot barriers, in theory.
Ariella
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50%
Ariella,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 2:13:30 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
@Lorna good point. One has to remember what people will expect to be able to do on their phones. 
Lorna Garey
50%
50%
Lorna Garey,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 2:05:18 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
Let's face it, the price of the phone itself is a small part of the decision. Over 24 months, the difference between $50 and $100, or even $150, is minor. The lion's share of the cost is in the data plan. If Amazon figured out how to get around 3/4G bandwidth limits, now THAT would be a selling point. Though as others have pointed out, it also needs the app ecosystem. No one is buying a phone that they can't run Twitter, Facebook, etc. on.
Ariella
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0%
Ariella,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 1:15:02 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
It makes sense to me. After all, the phone and Amazon would promote each other, and the company does promote its Prime service at every purchase.
Ariella
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0%
Ariella,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 12:52:29 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
Perhaps Amazon could offer some kind of package that gives you  the phone when you purchase Amazon Prime. 
ChrisMurphy
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ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 12:10:19 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
Is a smartphone optimized for shopping a niche market? Most people want their phones to text, game, map, and use a small handful of apps. Shopping will grow in that mix, especially as the smartphone becomes the wallet, but the others won't diminish. Seems to me people still want that Swiss army knife of a phone.   
Shane M. O'Neill
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0%
Shane M. O'Neill,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 12:00:56 PM
Re: They'll have to offer the phone for under $50
Yeah, $50 seems about right to differentiate from pricey iPhones and Samsung S5's. But the perception may be that it's a shoddy phone because it's so inexpensive. So Amazon better not cut corners on quality.
Shane M. O'Neill
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50%
Shane M. O'Neill,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 11:46:45 AM
WIll thriving ecosystem and low price be enough?
Amazon has a thriving ecosystem and the Kindle Fire tablet shows Amazon can play to win on mobile devices. Amazon has never been afraid to price the hardware low, knowing its commerce services will pick up the slack. I expect it will follow that same strategy here. But with smartphone users mostly happy with their iPhones and Android phones, I wonder if Amazon, despite its commerce muscle and generous pricing, is simply too late to the game.
Lorna Garey
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0%
Lorna Garey,
 User Rank: Author
6/16/2014 | 11:21:58 AM
Backlash
 Amazon risks people seeing it as a monopoly that's going to stifle competition over the long term -- bad news for consumers. Plus there's the creepy factor of it knowing so much about us. I already defaulted to Better World Books whenever possible for physical books, even before the Colbert-driven Hachette flap. 

The company better market this device carefully.


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