Looking
for a smartphone deal this Black Friday and not too picky about the mode of the
smartphone? Then I've got a treat for you. But first some helpful advice from
CNET's Bridget Carey about Shopping Online this Black Friday as described in my
Geezam blog article entitled “How to ship things to
Jamaica after you’re purchase them online”
Then
head online to Amazon and buy the Amazon Fire smartphone for only US$199
unlocked as reported in the article “Amazon
Fire Phone Gets Another Fire Sale: $199 Unlocked”, published November 26th
2014 by Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch.
What
happened to the Amazon Fire smartphone? Short answer: low-end specs in a
gimmicky, overpriced smartphone.
Amazon Fire smartphone
- From Volksphone to Roasting in a Fire Sale
Apparently
since the Amazon Fire smartphone launched back in June 2014 as reported in my blog article
entitled “US$199
Amazon Fire smartphone is Amazon Prime member's Nirvana – Shopping by Nodding
your Head and Finding Waldo”, much was expected of this smartphone
tailor-made for Amazon Prime users.
I
even went as far as to call it the Volksphone in my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon
Fire is a Volkswagen for Amazon Prime subscribers that’ll drive shop-on-the-go
Online Obsession”.
 |
It's
features made impulsive shipping by taking photographs using Firefly and
Dynamic Perspective apparently were too gimmicky for the Amazon Prime crowd and
it's so-so specs of 4.7″ IPS screen, Quad-core 2.2GHz Processor with Adreno 330
graphics, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear-facing camera with image stabilization and an
f2.0 lens made the mainstream shun the smartphone.
Worse,
it was cursed from the start as it was launched on AT&T on a 2 year
contract for US$199.
Only
on AT&T. Bad move Amazon!
US$83 million worth of
unsold Amazon Fire - US$199 to US$0.99 on 2-year Contract in 2 months
Within
two (2) months, Amazon had to drop the price for this ordinary smartphone from
US$199 to US0.99 on 2-year Contract in 2 months.
“Fire
Sale” are the words that best describe this phenomenon. but when it became
apparent that Americans weren't feeling the smartphone when during the Amazon
Earnings Call on Thursday October 23, 2014, it was revealed that for the Third
Quarter of 2014, Amazon had US$83 million dollars worth of unsold Amazon Fire
smartphones as noted in the article “Amazon Fire
Phone Flops”, published Oct 23, 2014 by Greg Kumparak, TechCrunch.
 |
Amazon’s
SVP of Devices David Limp told Fortune Magazine it was a miscalculation in
pricing in the article “Amazon
exec: We priced the Fire phone wrong”, published OCTOBER 30, 2014, 6:25 PM
EST by JP Mangalindan, Fortune.
He
claimed that Amazon were committed to the Amazon Fire Smartphone for the long
haul as stated in the article “Amazon’s
Fire Phone Product Efforts Will Continue Despite Early Stumbles”, published
Oct 31, 2014 by Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch.
So
as Black Friday approaches, it's clear they cannot sell off US$83 million
dollars worth of unsold Amazon Fire on AT&T alone….T-Mobile has to come to their
rescue. So expect to see the US$0.99 Amazon Fire smartphone get a software
upgrade to Google Android KitKat to capture more Amazon Prime peeps.....in the
Year of the Sheep 2015.
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