Amazon Fire Phone: the phone your mom has been dreaming of
June 19, 2014
Amazon got a lot of things right with their first mobile phone. While the phone's specs may be last generation, Amazon knows that most Americans don't know or care about processor speeds. Most people will choose a phone based on two minutes of trial in an AT&T showroom or the phone's star rating on Amazon. The general public has never heard of The Verge, let alone watched an unboxing.
The Fire Phone is built for this massive market. And it promises to make Amazon a great deal of cash and loyalty along the way.
- Retail Ready:
The "dynamic perspective" feature will make for an incredible retail showroom experience. This feature may not offer much long term value, but it will sing on the sales floor. - Prime:
This phone is built for Prime subscribers. Not only does it include one year of free Prime membership, but it promises to deliver the best Prime experience with Firefly. There is no better way to keep someone addicted to your services than by locking their most-used screen into your ecosystem. - Newbies:
I love my mother, but she cannot find her way around a Nexus 4. Mayday's instant, live support is a breakthrough smartphone feature and a huge selling point for technology laggards. The phone has a dedicated camera button for G-ds sake. And photo backup is automatic. It couldn't get any easier. - Brand:
Amazon is a trusted name. Amazon isn't in the news for screwing their customers, and people already trust them with their credit card information. Whereas Google is occasionally in the news for "big brother" scare stories, people trust the Amazon brand.
I don't know that Amazon's first phone will sell out minutes or that they will sell 10 million units in the first three months. But it wasn't designed to, nor does it need to.
The Fire Phone is positioned as the best phone experience for the mainstream Prime subscriber. And it will get the Prime subscriber even more addicted to Amazon. That sounds like a win/win to me.