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Amazon Stops Selling Fire Phone
An anonymous reader writes: Last June Amazon announced their Fire Phone, an Android device packed with interesting but questionably useful tech that left reviewers unimpressed. Now, just a few weeks after big layoffs in Amazon's Fire Phone division, the phone has gone out of stock globally and seems unlikely to return. GeekWire says it's "an indication that they've finally exhausted their supply and they don't have plans to manufacture anymore."
...if actually they didn't run out of stock, and they're buried in a landfill next to a bunch of Lisas and Newtons...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Too bad. I have one and i rather like it. It has limitations but for the price it is a nice device. Pros: very good battery life, peppy, nice display, some hardware buttons, can sideload apps, comes with a year of Prime (or extension), integrates well with Fire TV Stick. Cons: Amazon app store is missing many useful apps and lags versions, limited Google integration, could really use a back button (the back gesture ends up doing something else about 25% of the time).
Mind you, i got it for only $159 unlocked, and that includes a year of Prime, so effectively $60 for an unlocked smartphone with a decent processor and display is pretty sweet. For $60, it's a fantastic device, really.
Maybe I'm lazy, but even though I'm sure I could root a phone or side-load applications, it's a goddamn phone, I don't want to have to do that to just use it. There is a point where I'm no longer interested in digging under the hood, and that limit seems to be the cell phone for me. Computers, network routers, wireless access points, all stuff to play with, but I just want my phone to be reliable and to do the things that it's touted as being capable of. I don't want to have to modify it to remove the crippleware just to reach intended functionality.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
It has some interesting concepts and it isn't a "me too" iPhone & Android. Amazon was stupid as to think the average consumer would pay the same for the fire phone with a non-existent ecosphere as he would for a new iPhone with a rich and featured ecosphere. If they had just taken half the current write-off and put that upfront to sell these phones heavily discounted to get a foothold in the market, I have no doubt they would have sold well.
What does giving away a free year of Prime does? It pretty much traps the person into keeping Prime and buying a ton of stuff from Amazon.
I'm enjoying my fire phone. Would I have purchased one at $600 or $200 + 2 years of service? Hell no. However, when I saw it at $130, and it's been as low as $110, plus a year of Prime I purchased it instantly.
I half expect Amazon to acquire Canonical and run Unbuntu.
This article is pure nonsense (and yes, I work at Amazon). We're not crying at our desks - we have special rooms for that, for FSM's sake!
That being said, I think I've seen only one person with a FirePhone at _Amazon_. That's how popular they are...
I was in the process of a multi-month (sigh) email dialog with an amazon (labs) recruiter; before the big article, things were coming along and there was interest from him (and his group) in me. after the layoff/reorg/article, a few weeks went by and nothing.
then, an email saying that they are 'regrouping' and would I like to apply for an android oriented job instead of the hw/fw job that I was more interested in. I gave him a good earfull about how amazon has no business (literally and figuratively) being in the android space, no one buys it, its a failure and fwiw, I have no background or interest in the race-to-the-bottom known as 'apps development' or even the o/s itself. hardware, sure, I'd be into it, but the android stuff at amazon is just a non-starter and everyone knows it.
of course, once I leveled with him, I don't expect to ever hear back from him again. in fact, he may even be RIF'd for all I know.
but I do know that amazon has to exit the android biz and spend its money elsewhere. they have a lot of power in the brand name (amazon) but android is just not the place for them, imho.
(I was actually pushing some new hardware ideas on a totally non-phone CES concept; and initially the recruiter was excited about it; but now I'm not hearing from him at all. I guess amazon really has fundamental problems that are more than just skin deep...)
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Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
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