Amazon Prime Will Knock $50 Off an Android Phone If You Watch Amazon's Lock-Screen Ads (recode.net)

It's no secret that Amazon's Fire Phone tanked on the market. But while the e-commerce giant is keeping a distance from smartphone manufacturing business for some time, it is not ignoring the platform. The company is now willing to offer its Prime members a $50 discount on two unlocked phone models should they agree to see ads on the lock-screen of their smartphone. Recode reports:Unlike the Fire Phone, which used Amazon services in place of Google, these two phones (the fourth-generation Moto G and Blu R1 HD) will include all the standard Google apps (Play Store, YouTube, Gmail, Chrome, etc.) along with Amazon apps for shopping, watching video and playing music. With the discount, the Blu phone will sell for just $49, while the price of the Moto G drops to $149. The move is clearly a modest one but could at some point become more significant, particularly if Amazon is willing to strike deals with other hardware makers to include its apps and services.The bigger news is Amazon finding its way into Google Mobile Services-powered Android smartphones. Most of the Amazon-branded devices don't have Google Mobile Services (Google Play, Google Play Services, Gmail etc).

Comments

Not nearly enough

[JohnFen]

I presume that you must use Amazon's lock screen, which means no third-party ones. $50 off the purchase of two phones in exchange for no longer being able to use the lockscreen of my choice and having ads on it?

I simply don't see the value proposition there.

Re:Not nearly enough

[__aaclcg7560]

Marketing translation: Amazon wins, you lose!

Re:Not nearly enough

[mlts]

With ads comes monitoring and analytics, not to mention browser fingerprinting. I'll pass.

I wish Amazon would offer the opposite. Pay a bit more, get a phone with up to date specs, a MicroSD card, two SIM card slots, with the bootloader unlockable with fastboot oem unlock, like the Nexus series, and certified builds of CyanogenMod, and bloatware free ROMs, with source code for all SoC drivers available.

Re:Not nearly enough

[mrops]

Is this a good will agreement?

What is stopping me to change the lock screen or the OS completely if its tied down somehow?

Re:Not nearly enough

[AchilleTalon]

There isn't, but that's not the point. Penis enlargement pumps are still selling despite everything that has been said on them. So, I suppose this proposition will get them some extra market share which is the goal.

Re:Not nearly enough

[_UnderTow_]

That is something they'll never do. All of their hardware exists only to channel users to their website.

Re:Not nearly enough

[Anonymous Coward]

There may be some value in it - if it works correctly. How often do you "watch" your lock screen? Most people want the screen to be OFF when not using it as it uses battery to have the screen on (I realize that certain types of screen require nearly no power when showing a static image). But the phone is useless when locked, so why would anyone "watch" a lock screen? Who gives a rat's ass what is on it? It is only there to prevent miscreants from accessing your phone while letting you in quickly (with PIN, password, fingerprint, etc.). So my questions would be: how much data and battery life would it cost me to have these ads downloaded all the time? Do you track whether I actually watch them or leave my screen OFF when the display locks? I can see some values of those variables where non-ad averse folks might take the $50. Me? I detest ads. I block them on browsers, I use a TiVo and skip them on TV shows. I uninstall apps that have full screen takeover ads and try to pay the developers for ad-free versions of their apps. So it would not be something I would want. But some people might.

Re:Not nearly enough

[cciechad]

This must have a locked bootloader or such to prevent the software from being changed out. I personally hate these locked loader devices but at least Amazon is paying you here. Samsung locks their crappy telco provided image on their devices in the US and doesn't even give you a discount.

Re:Not nearly enough

[JoeMerchant]

Neither do I. However, there's a huge part of the population who think "$50 is $50, if I can get it for $50 less, that's $50 I can spend on ______". I'm guessing that it's not a majority, but with a potential customer base of Billions, even if Amazon only sells this to 0.01% of the world, that's a huge hit.

Re:Not nearly enough

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish Amazon would offer the opposite. Pay a bit more, get a phone with up to date specs, a MicroSD card, two SIM card slots, with the bootloader unlockable with fastboot oem unlock, like the Nexus series, and certified builds of CyanogenMod, and bloatware free ROMs, with source code for all SoC drivers available.

Let me introduce you to Wileyfox [http://wileyfox.com/]

Re:Not nearly enough

[JohnFen]

How often do you "watch" your lock screen?

My lock screen gives me important information I use regularly, so I look at it frequently. But that's not even the point. The real cost, in my view, is the tracking that comes along with the ads.

Re:Not nearly enough

[hey!]

The value proposition is as simple as can be, in fact you can quantify it: it's fifty bucks in your pocket.

I took this deal on the Kindle Paperwhite, and I have to say it works for me. Whether this is a good deal for you on a phone depends on how attached you are to your particular favorite lock screen. I expect many people aren't.

Re:Not nearly enough

[Dog-Cow]

That's because you don't see much value in $50. While it's nice to be so well-off that you don't have to consider the price difference, not everyone is so lucky. Whether those to whom $50 is a significant amount should be signing up for Amazon Prime and buying one of these phones is an entirely different discussion.

Re:Not nearly enough

[Dog-Cow]

There is no additional tracking that comes with the ads unless you actually interact with it.

Re:Not nearly enough

[JohnFen]

Maybe, maybe not, but I have no reason to trust that is true. This is a point ad companies are often deceptive about.

Re:Not nearly enough

[JohnFen]

Actually, I consider $50 to be a lot of money. It's not that I don't think $50 is valuable, it's that I think that what Amazon is asking of me is worth a lot more (to me) than $50.

Re:Not nearly enough

[JohnFen]

No, a "value proposition" is the total amount of value involved when you take the benefit (the $50) and subtract the value of what you're giving up for that benefit. That value, in this case, is completely subjective -- and for me, it's worth a lot more than $50 -- so the value proposition is negative dollars. Other people place a different value on what they're being asked to give up. For them, the value proposition is different. That's completely legitimate.

Nightmare

[Scottingham]

What a fucking nightmare!

I wouldn't do this even if it made the phone completely free.

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't do it even if they gave me the phone, paid for the phone service and paid me $50/month to use their phone.

Re:Nightmare

[CohibaVancouver]

nightmare!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re: Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

...And my axe!

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

A nightmare is watching your children burned alive in front of you. Looking at an advisement is a minor annoyance. Get some perspective, son.

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

But what if one of the ads turns out to be for a special oven that can be used to burn children alive ... AND YOUR CHILD IS STARRING IN THE AD!!!!

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't they learn their lesson with the Firephone?

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

$50 off your phone in exchange for the phone equivalent of AIDS!! What a deal!

Re:Nightmare

[denis-The-menace]

Let call it Phads (short for Phone Ads)

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

PhAIDS.

Re:Nightmare

[gnupun]

If you interact with the lock-screen just five times a day, that's almost 5,500 ads in three years time (before most people EOL the phone). On top of that, you have to watch ads in apps, websites and TV. It's a nightmare... that's not an overstatement.

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

> A nightmare is watching your children burned alive in front of you.

This *happened* to me! I see that little charred face every night in my dreams. Strangely he's often telling me about deals I can't miss out on. Perhaps the Amazon's much maligned afterlife AWS module is closer to completion than we thought.

Re:Nightmare

[sexconker]

But what if one of the ads turns out to be for a special oven that can be used to burn children alive ... AND YOUR CHILD IS STARRING IN THE AD!!!!

Do I get royalties each time they run the ad?

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

I see you're not in marketing. :p

Re:Nightmare

[Cro Magnon]

A nightmare is watching your children burned alive in front of you. Looking at an advisement is a minor annoyance. Get some perspective, son.

You must not be seeing the same ads I am.

Re:Nightmare

[mrchaotica]

A nightmare is watching your children burned alive in front of you. Looking at an advisement is a minor annoyance. Get some perspective, son.

I have perspective: Burning children alive only destroys those children. Orwellian propaganda and tracking run amok could destroy our entire society.

Re:Nightmare

[Anonymous Coward]

Although I have seen true horrors, (that do give nightmares), this conversation is about a phone's one-time promotional price and its ensuing many-time perpetual ads. Nightmare is a good enough word- especially to describe being constantly interrupted from what you were just going to do.
- want to take a note? *wait 30 seconds while unrelated/distracting content fills your eyes -> now what were you going to write again?
- need to look up local pizza place, while kids screaming in car & you're not quite sure where you're driving? -> please pull over and enjoy 30 seconds of sport shoe advertisements as an added layer to the circus going on around you.

Look, one more thing may not 'seem' a tough price to pay but remember... these promotions, ads, systems, and decisions are being made in an office of 'media experts' not your peers. When their job IS to be everywhere and make everyone pay attention to them, of course they do not find ads intrusive or counterproductive. Now, does the rest of the world REALLY want to play along with them? Really? Or is it that we just humor them to get a deal.

only in this case it's not a deal- a ONE time price drop for MULTI ads for as long as you own the phone? No. And back to your original point: you may have also witnessed terrors but we do not need to force others to consider our mindsets but for us to 'join' the conversation. Hell, there's some places where just having hot water... or better yet running water in one's home at all is considered the pinnacle of the day. Yes we can get some perspective against those with 'less than' and may consider our nightmares a small price to pay. But not in this case -> constant ads for a one time deal is a nightmare.

Re:Nightmare

[Coren22]

Where do I sign up?

Re:Nightmare

[SeaFox]

nightmare!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

You don't know how the concept effects him. I actually had a bad dream last night about my computer updating to Windows 10. I think the topic came up because of recent reading about that woman who won $10,000 for her business machine being borked. But anyway, yes. It was a literal nightmare about Microsoft.

No Thanks

[sexconker]

Fuck Adazon.

Re:No Thanks

[narcc]

I should probably point out that this offer is completely optional. You're free to pay the regular price for the phone if you don't want the one with ads.

People who don't care can get a 25%-50% discount on their phone. Does it upset you that people you don't know are exchanging an ad-free experience for a discount on a low-end mobile phone?

Honestly, what do you have to complain about?

Re:No Thanks

[sexconker]

It's optional today, it's not optional tomorrow. Yes, this upsets me. Look at Samsung TVs. Look at cable TV. You seem to be very quick to defend advertisers. Are you one of them? Do you make money off of ads?
Ads invade privacy, hog bandwidth, and present serious security risks. I'd rather swim naked in the Ganges.

Re:No Thanks

[Dog-Cow]

We all wish you'd swim naked in the Ganges.

Re:No Thanks

[narcc]

It's optional today, it's not optional tomorrow.

Pure paranoia. They've been doing this for 5 years now without incident. What makes you think they'll force ads on full-price products, or not offer the ad-free full-price product at all? What could they possibly have to gain?

Re:Uh, no.

[Yvan256]

Didn't you see the previous story about Android malware? You really don't want to be a part of that?

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because iOS is a childs toy and proprietary walled garden designed to lower your IQ and generally suck the money out of you in one hit.

Android you can at least compile from source and opt out of the app store.

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because it may better suit your needs? Just because one company is offering a deal in return for ads is no reason to be so pretentious as to completely write off an alternative that suits many users' needs.

How is this enforced?

[mjm1231]

What stops me from buying the reduced price phone, and then installing cyanogenmod on it, and avoiding the ads? I'm sure there will other simpler methods for disabling the ads as well.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

Locked bootloader.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

Probably a EULA and a voided warranty as well.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, a warranty on a 50 dollar phone is important.

Almost as important as a EULA.

Re:How is this enforced?

[TangoMargarine]

50 dollars OFF. Do they sell $100 Android phones?

Re:How is this enforced?

[sglewis100]

With the discount, the Blu phone will sell for just $49, while the price of the Moto G drops to $149.

Yeah. I guess they do.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows 7 "Starter Edition" came with my notebook PC.

The wallpaper is a Microsoft logo. You can't change it. And if you find the .bmp in the filesystem and change it manually, Windows will checksum the file and BRICK THE MACHINE. It's in the EULA, too.

So I'd expect something similar from Amazon. But at the hardware level.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Opportunist]

Well, it's a 100 dollar value...

Re:How is this enforced?

[Opportunist]

If that's all, that's acceptable. It's not like I ever see the background of the screen anyway.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's all kinds of things disabled in Win7 Starter Edition, but that's the most insulting.

Re:How is this enforced?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't speak for the Blu phones, but the current Moto G phones have locked bootloaders that nobody has cracked yet. You can unlock them if Motorola gives you an unlock code, but it's not clear that they will do so for these phones.

Re:How is this enforced?

[JohnFen]

You mean there are people who actually care about the EULA and warranty??

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

why are you reading the post and asking rhetorical questions if you are not interested in android devices?

Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[butchersong]

If you must have ads the lock screen is probably the ideal space but I'm not sure what Amazon is trying to achieve here. This plan would basically self select for only the poorest users that are not inclined to spend even 50 dollars more for a better experience -not the demographic I'd want to target my ads to.

Re:Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[Anonymous Coward]

Advertise things that poor people buy - online gambling, cheap beer, packaged high-fructose corn syrup

Re: Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[Karlt1]

Or buying a cheap phone for a teenager....

Re:Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[sexconker]

They show ads on the lock screen, but the rat's nest of baked in and locked down apps and services that feed you those ads will also be phoning home to the mothership and selling every single thing you do on your phone.

Re:Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[narcc]

That's paranoid.

Amazon has offered their customers discount ebook readers and tablets subsidized by ads for years. You can even unsubscribe from the ad supported service, though a small fee is assessed if you received a discount on the initial purchase of the device. (You can add ads to your lockscreen by subscribing to their ad service, and unsubscribe to get rid of them for free.)

Since they started offering these discounts 5-years ago, none of the privacy hawks have complained about Amazon's policies. As far as advertisers go, they're about as responsible you can get. They don't share personal information with third-parties, like you claim. (The exceptions being obvious like shipping companies and third-pary sellers who need things like your name and address to ship your products.)

You can opt to stay in fantasy land, and not believe their privacy policy. Though you'll need to find some actual evidence that they're lying. So far, none of the privacy hawks have managed to find a reason to complain!

Re:Good solution but not incentive enough for me

[JoeMerchant]

Some people get to be (and stay) poor by having poor impulse control, particularly impulse buying. Brick and mortar snack shops attached to gas stations are a testament to this fact.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

Because I routinely buy stuff from Amazon. As an Amazon customer, this offer makes no sense.

Good, I hope it works

[penguinoid]

It's about time companies pay us for the privilege of showing us their crap. Though to be honest, I wouldn't expect lock-screen ads to be worth $50, nor conversely $50 be worth having lock-screen ads.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[Hans Lehmann]

Remember when grocery stores in the U.S. first starting giving "discounts" if you used your loyalty card, or whatever it was called at the time, that allowed them to track your purchases? Now they just raise the prices on select items far above the price of their competitors, then only sell it to you for the normal price if you hand over your personal data. The same thing will eventually happen with phones.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[JohnFen]

Yup. But there might be a sliver of hope here. I don't use loyalty cards, and I avoid shopping at places that offer them because of what you just said: the odds are overwhelming that everything in the place is overpriced. Instead, I go to a store that doesn't use loyalty cards (they aren't as rare as you might think, at least in my area).

Or perhaps not. My personal expectation is the same as yours, that phones that don't unduly track me, or on which I can install my own OS, are going to be available but cost more and more over time. But I try, despite all evidence, to remain optimistic.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[narcc]

the odds are overwhelming that everything in the place is overpriced.

Yeah, you could play guessing games. I guess that could be fun. What a normal person would do, however, is compare prices for identical products across several stores in the area to see if the stores which offer discount cards have generally higher prices than their competitors.

(Also, "the odds are overwhelimg"? How would you even go about computing such a thing? You're obviously using that phrase rhetorically, so I'm not nit-picking. I just wanted to point out that you're starting from a pretty cynical/paranoid mentality.)

I've found that, in general, crazy conspiracy theories like this tend to fall apart the instant you try to prove their validity.

But I try, despite all evidence, to remain optimistic.

I'm not so sure about that. It looks to me like you're trying your best to stay paranoid despite the lack of evidence.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[JoeMerchant]

Companies pay huge amounts to show you their crap. Advertising/marketing accounts for anywhere from 20% (bigger ticket) to 90% (more niche/fad oriented) of the cost of products on the commercial market.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[JohnFen]

Yeah, you could play guessing games. I guess that could be fun. What a normal person would do, however, is compare prices for identical products across several stores in the area to see if the stores which offer discount cards have generally higher prices than their competitors.

Now why would you think I hadn't done this? I have. The vast majority of stores in my area that use affinity cards tend to have higher prices across the board from those that don't. Not all of them do, but most. Enough that it works as a rule of thumb for stores I'm not familiar with.

Also, there's no conspiracy theory involved here at all, let alone a crazy one.

Re:Good, I hope it works

[GuB-42]

Now they just raise the prices on select items far above the price of their competitors, then only sell it to you for the normal price if you hand over your personal data.

Just go to the competitors. You don't have to buy everything at the same place.

Amazon ads

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd be willing to pay $50 to Amazon if they would get that stupid fucking Amazon prime ad with the tiny horse off the TV. Permanently.

Low Ball

[quicks0rt]

Sorry, you will have to pay me more than $50 to watch ads on phone that I may keep for several years.

Re:Low Ball

[narcc]

You can opt-out of the ads at any time.

dumbest frickin' idea ever

[swschrad]

first Bezo wants you to buy his phone, with all kinds of "buy pallet of Kleenex now" buttons. at a premium.

now he wants to pay you to put ads, probably from services taken over by malware, on the lock screen, so you can be pirated while it charges.

probably bomb you with special offers when his rocket company starts sending up payloads. first guy who gets hit with a payload that didn't untie the bundle is going to sue until he owns the place.

Bezo the bozo may have finally turned a real profit, but the evil force is strong in this one.

I'm good with this

[EndlessNameless]

This is the right way to integrate advertisement.

1. Let the user know before the sale

2. Offer an incentive to compensate for the bandwidth/convenience/intrusion

3. Allow the same equipment to be bought with or without the advertising

While I would never buy in personally, I believe this is the first attempt to treat customers fairly when it comes to advertising and data collection.

You should also be able to disable the advertisements after the traditional subsidy period has ended---so 2 years for mobile.

Re:I'm good with this

[JohnFen]

Yes, I agree. Amazon isn't doing anything wrong here as near as I can see. It's not even in the ballpark of anything I would personally be OK with, but nobody's being deceived or coerced.

Re:I'm good with this

[sexconker]

They had a similar model with a Kindle a few years back. I actually ordered the Kindle as soon as it was available because I knew it would sell out. Then I read the description and shit and saw that what I got was a Kindle + adware. I canceled the order and never got a Kindle. Fuck ads.

Re:I'm good with this

[Anonymous Coward]

Only one prob with this model Endy --> the fifty bucks off is a one time thing. The phone & its accompanying ads are perpetual as long as you use it. How about 50 bucks off a month from the data bill? Or something else other than a 1-time enticement for a permanent handicap?

Re:I'm good with this

[narcc]

Ah, I see. You're upset because you didn't bother to read the description of the product you were buying and felt foolish. You blame Amazon, even though the product was very clearly labeled as being subsidized by ads, because you don't want to accept that you made a mistake.

You could have opted-out of the ads, once you realized YOUR mistake, though you'd need to pay difference to cancel the subscription. The ads would have been disabled before the product even arrived at your door!

Yeah, I get that you hate ads. What I don't understand is your hate for completely optional ads. No one is forcing them on you here. Get over it.

Re:I'm good with this

[JoeMerchant]

We got the kindle with ads - it's not a big deal, the ads are 97% less intrusive than lead-ins on YouTube, or normal broadcast TV. I wouldn't want it on my phone, but for the 12 year old's tablet, yeah, it was a good financial trade.

Re:I'm good with this

[Anonymous Coward]

There are two editions of the kindle, one with ads and one without. The one with ads is $20 cheaper. If you get the one with ads and then decide you don't like these ads, you can pay $20 to remove the ads, and it's just like you bought the one without ads in the first place.

Re:I'm good with this

[sexconker]

I'm not upset, you clown. I canceled the order after finding out it had ads. It cost me nothing. It cost Amazon a sale.
Ads are never optional. There was a time when cable TV had no ads because viewers paid for the content through their cable subscription. Now cable TV has ads out the ass. If you give them an inch, they will take a mile.

Re:I'm good with this

[sexconker]

I know, but on release/reveal day the one on the front page for $199 or whatever it was was the one with ads.
I was lucky to ad that to my cart and check out before it was gone.

I would have paid $20 more for it as well. But the fact that they went into the ad game in that manner made them a no-go for me. Just like Samsung TVs. Fuck that shit.

Re:I'm good with this

[CronoCloud]

There was a time when cable TV had no ads because viewers paid for the content through their cable subscription.

You are confusing cable Tv with PREMIUM channels on cable TV.

Before Premium channels existed, Cable TV basically re-transmitted Over the Air channels from further away than than a "normal" house mast antenna could receive over a wire...and that was it. And since those were OTA channels they had ads.

Re:I'm good with this

[sexconker]

No, and I can tell you're under 40 years old. Cable TV used to have channels that had no commercial interruptions. They were not premium channels like HBO and Shotime are today. It was a major selling point.

Re:I'm good with this

[narcc]

I'm not upset, you clown. I canceled the order after finding out it had ads. It cost me nothing. It cost Amazon a sale.

Sure you were. You were upset with yourself that you failed to read the product description. It had nothing to do with them offering the product with ads. You blamed them for your silly mistake to protect your ego. Had you bought the full-price ad-free version initially, would you still have canceled your order had you discovered that they offered an ad-subsidized version? I doubt it.

If you give them an inch, they will take a mile.

Any evidence? They've been well-behaved for five years and counting. So far, there's no sign that they'll force ads on you. No sign that they'll force you to buy their ad-subsidized products either.

You're paranoid.

Re:I'm good with this

[CronoCloud]

Dude I'm 49. What you're thinking of are the very early incarnations of channels like AMC or Bravo, which saw themselves as being more akin to premium cable. In fact AMC WAS originally a premium channel. That didn't last. And if youd been paying attention you would have noticed the commercials on TBS, USA, MTV, etc. I most certainly saw commercials on cable in 1972. Cable's selling point wasn't zero commercials, it was having more than 3 or 4 channels

Re:I'm good with this

[sexconker]

That's a little young to be going senile. I'm not thinking of premiums, I'm thinking of paid cable, which was a shock to many people. Why would you pay for TV and then pay for the channels? Because of the extra channels it carried, paid for by your subscription, and not ads.

Of course I've noticed the commercials on cable channels. That's my fucking point. Cable WAS commercial-free. Now it's not. Amazon is making ads optional now. Tomorrow they won't be optional. Does anyone remember Hulu Plus?

Re:I'm good with this

[Anonymous Coward]

That stuff is probably why he wouldn't take it.

At least they're being upfront about it and giving people the choice, that's the important part.

Fuck no... you should be paying *ME*.

[mark-t]

I will consider having a phone with ads on its lock screen when a company is paying me to own it, and that is over and above fully paying for the data plan necessary to deliver such ads to the phone.

Re:Fuck no... you should be paying *ME*.

[Beavey]

Right. It's a $50 discount off the price of the phone ($75 if you buy it today). They ARE paying you to own it. $50. That's kind of the point.

Re:Fuck no... you should be paying *ME*.

[mark-t]

No... they are giving a *DISCOUNT*... it is not paying for it, let alone paying me to actually use it.

It's competition.

[Futurepower(R)]

"I simply don't see the value proposition there."

Amazon is part of the competition. Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, and others are all competing to see who can be most abusive.

My opinion, shared by others.

$50 won't cover the cost of data.

[Anonymous Coward]

Advertising costs consumers money. Period.

Re:Uh, no.

[sglewis100]

Because I routinely buy stuff from Amazon. As an Amazon customer, this offer makes no sense.

To you. To others, however (you realize this isn't creimer.com but slashdot.org) it might. Not looking for either of those phones presently (a little on the low end for me), but I've spent years with ads on my Kindle lock screen, which saved me maybe all of $20 on a Kindle purchase. Never bothered me once, and even bought a couple of things when they were good deals. Discovered a good book to read, and got a great deal on a SanDisk SSD that was advertised with special pricing for Kindle with Ads customers. Personally, I've never used a third party lock screen, nor do I use the lock screen all that much, so yeah, I would consider it if the phone was right.

absolutely no way

[xorbe]

Goodness knows what else they've modified, I doubt it stops at the lock screen.

Re:Uh, no.

[PCM2]

As an Amazon customer, this offer makes no sense.

Correct. This offer is not for you.

This offer is to entice new customers to sign up for Prime. In the market for a phone? Sign up for Prime and you can get a discounted phone.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

To others, however (you realize this isn't creimer.com but slashdot.org) it might.

You do realize that Slashdot exists to keep me amuse while I'm waiting for a script to finish at work?

Correct URL: http://www.cdreimer.com/

I Would Sign Up

[Anonymous Coward]

I would. Seriously, it's the lock screen! I don't care! I did the same thing with my Kindle and I don't really notice the ads. I pick up the device and unlock it.

I have a Nexus. If Google offered me $50 to ignore ads on my lock screen, I'd sign up today.

Re:I Would Sign Up

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a terrible person.

Note to Apple users: Not everything is about you.

[OrangeTide]

Why should I switch my iPhone to an Android phone again?

If you're happy with Apple, and have already have an investment in iOS applications, then this product is not for you.

Re:Uh, no.

[sglewis100]

I believe you are incorrect. It exists to let me get all flustered and pissy while avoiding doing work. Incidentally, I clicked on your cdreimer.com link, although since it's not slashdot, you'll get no pissy comments from me there.

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Website redesign is still in progress. Expect further developments in the new year. Probably later rather than sooner."

Considering it is now July, how much fucking longer do we have to wait?

Also, I'm voting for whichever presidential candidate supports legalizing dick pics on Facebook.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

This offer is to entice new customers to sign up for Prime.

I had Prime back in the day when I practically bought something every week. Then it was $40 per year. These days I can wait to get free shipping.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

Considering it is now July, how much fucking longer do we have to wait?

What part of "later" don't you understand? :P

Watch them, or just let them run?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Do I actually have to watch them or can I just let them run and pretend I'm paying attention?

Or can I root the friggin' thing and do away with the ads altogether? Inquiring minds want to know...

Re:Watch them, or just let them run?

[wonkey_monkey]

Do I actually have to watch them or can I just let them run and pretend I'm paying attention?

No, you have to watch them. It comes with little robot arms that grasp your eyelids and keep them open, then it sprays you with CS spray if you don't keep your attention on the screen.

Re:Watch them, or just let them run?

[JoeMerchant]

I think when you root the phone they send you an "upgrade" bill, as their ad showing software won't be phoning home anymore.

Re:Watch them, or just let them run?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

No, you have to watch them. It comes with little robot arms that grasp your eyelids and keep them open, then it sprays you with CS spray if you don't keep your attention on the screen.

Thank you for answering my question, Mr Bezos.

Actually, I was wondering if, as some have mentioned about other ads, you'd have to answer some question about the content to prove you actually watched it. I should have made that clearer in my question.

Re:Watch them, or just let them run?

[narcc]

My wife has a Fire tablet with ads. They're completely unobtrusive. They don't interrupt or delay you in any way.

If it was free.

[Anonymous Coward]

If this was free, I would happily have ads on the lockscreen, homescreen, task manager, system tray pop-up and a browser with an ad-strip.
Given the Prime membership and free phone, a lot of people would be happy to replace it.

In before 20 paranoid retards scream "YOU IDIOT" because they think my watching of stupid videogame videos and film trailers and news stories and my drawing of chinese cartoons will destroy your life in ways you cannot imagine!
Oh, wait, meanwhile in the real world.

This will be trivial to hack anyway.
Invisible ads and fake permissions.
Oh no, my bandwidth is SO being wasted, what horror have I brought upon myself?! All this unlimited bandwidth, oh god it's being wasted!
(I work in these industries, just don't)

Re:Note to Apple users: Not everything is about yo

[__aaclcg7560]

If you're happy with Apple, and have already have an investment in iOS applications, then this product is not for you.

Actually, I don't. All the iOS apps I own also available for Android. I can't recall the last time I paid for an app.

Amazon is clueless about phones, tablets and video

[DickBreath]

When the Fire Phone was announced, I watched the presentation video live. I thought the tech was interesting. But then I began to notice something as they demoed more and more features of the phone.

Everything about the phone is designed to sell me something. Constantly. Always. In my face.

Hey, Amazon. Here's a free clue. From a customer who actually likes to purchase things through Amazon.

The reason I buy a smart phone and a tablet: TO IMPROVE MY QUALITY OF LIFE.

NOT to serve as your advertising billboard.

Here is a follow on problem that develops from that. Since I therefore use Android, not fire phone, since the purpose of a smartphone is to improve my life, I naturally have a number of video apps. Netflix. Hulu. HBO. PBS. Others. And . . . I have Prime Video with Starz.

BUT . . . in an anticompetitive move, Amazon won't put its video as an Android app in the Google Play store. So I can watch it on my Roku. But not on much else.

I also own a Chromecast. When Amazon introduced the Fire Stick, Amazon stopped selling Chromecasts. And since Amazon Video doesn't have an app on Android, it also doesn't work on Chromecast. This is a strong disincentive for me to pay for Amazon Prime video or Starz. Amazon: you've ruined my trust in order to try to sell me a Fire Stick that I don't need, don't want, and all the while, I am *already* a subscriber to Prime video and Starz. What a dumb move. Make me lose trust in your entire business in order to boost the Fire Stick? Really?

BTW, I hate monopolists or wannabe monopolists.

Re: Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

This offer makes no sense for any fathomable reason. $50 to suck battery life and power away while flooding me with ads? No thanks.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

It exists to let me get all flustered and pissy while avoiding doing work.

I loved trolling the trolls on Slashdot.

Incidentally, I clicked on your cdreimer.com link, although since it's not slashdot, you'll get no pissy comments from me there.

It's a statically-generated website. I got tired of 2,000+ hackers per day beating down my virtual doors from Russia and Asia IP addresses. Comments got removed in the process. I'm a lot happier these days as a website master.

Trifecta

[Dusthead Jr.]

In 2000 my older sister bought her first PC. She thought it was a bargin as all she had to do was sign up to some online service and get a $200 gift certificate, or something. The downside was you got a trifecta of shit. An eMachine running Win ME. And to top it off there was a persistent banner ad just below the taskbar. That was the condition of the deal. I guess she didn't mind it too much.

Re:Trifecta

[JoeMerchant]

In 1997ish Nielsen services paid me something like $30 a month to put spyware on my PC and watch what websites I browsed. I think I played along for about 2 years, but then their software wasn't compatible with the new browser I wanted to use, so I dropped them. Seemed like a fair trade, it was 99% unobtrusive and I really didn't care if they watched what I did on the computer.

Ads in my pocket

[Anonymous Coward]

Go for it. My pocket will watch all the ads you send its way. I may have a glimpse of an ad as I unlock my screen to use the phone, but that's not really a problem for me because I'm ad-blind. Just like I quickly move my gaze away when it meets other people's eyes, I move my gaze away when I see ads. I have no idea what anybody is trying to sell me. I hear there are ads on Slashdot too, but I don't know what they're about - and I never disabled them, because I like Slashdot.

Bwahahahaha

[stevez67]

No.

For that you would have to give me.

[Anonymous Coward]

The phone and the data free.

Re:For that you would have to give me.

[JoeMerchant]

Keep wishing.

like they say

[Anonymous Coward]

android=you are what is being sold

Re:Uh, no.

[ZipK]

Why should I switch my iPhone to an Android phone again?

Analog headphone jack.

Re:Uh, no.

[EvilSS]

Why should I switch my iPhone to an Android phone again?

How else will Google track you outside your home? You know, so you get just the right ads for your lifestyle. Totally not also going to the NSA or anything.

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you enjoy misinterpreting responses to flamebait as sincere human interaction. And that's pretty sad.

Re:Uh, no.

[BitZtream]

But did you need the things that your purchased based on the ads, or did you do what most people do, see a shiney deal for things that didn't actually need, and bout it case 'OMG SALE!'?

Regardless of what you might do, most people do the OMG SALE!!! impulse by, so just because they don't 'get bothered' by it, doesn't mean it doesn't still have a very large detrimental affect on them.

There are two ways I do things: Free with ads OR paid with NO ADS EVER.

You don't get to sell me something and then use that as an vehicle to sell me more useless crap and date mine my habits to ensure it suggests things at the right time and the right type to get me to impulse by it.

The sad part is that you're happy about being manipulated.

Amazon is a shitty company in every way. Using Amazon is essentially cutting off your own nose just to spite your face.

Congratulations, you've volunteered to be their slave and you're happy about it.

Re:Amazon is clueless about phones, tablets and vi

[Anonymous Coward]

It's Google who refuses to allow the Amazon Video app in the playstore, not Amazon. Google typically charges 30% for in-app purchases and Amazon has the option to buy or rent additional videos inside the app. They would have to give Google a sizable part of their profit for a tiny part of the cost of running the service.

Side-load the app or install the amazon app store and you'll have no trouble installing amazon video on your android device. If you bought an android device that doesn't support side-loading I feel sorry for you, but Amazon isn't going to be your only problem.

JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST NO

[Anonymous Coward]

The only way I'd ever watch an ad on a phone is is the discount was proportionate the amount of advertising I was exposed to. If you expect me to watch a 10,000 time slot ad , the FREE gold plated diamond studded BLING-O-PHONIC model I'm watching it on better come with some nice cans and escorts on speed dial.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

The sad part is that you're happy about being manipulated.

How am I being manipulated? I got Amazon Kindle with advertising. How many ads have I ever responded to? None.

Using Amazon is essentially cutting off your own nose just to spite your face.

It's not like I can go to a brick-and-mortar store to get a book. Borders went out of business a long time ago.

Congratulations, you've volunteered to be their slave and you're happy about it.

I guess I'm a slave to 7-11 because there are three 7-11's in a mile radius from my apartment.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

No, you enjoy misinterpreting responses to flamebait as sincere human interaction.

Thanks for clicking on my troll bait. Have a nice day!

I love my Fire Phone & It has no lock screen A

[Anonymous Coward]

My Fire Phone has been great to me over the last two years, FYI it doesn't have lock screen ads at all. My Fire HD tablet has them but you just unlock the device and go. Me or my son (who has used a Kindle with ads since he was 2yo now 6yo) have never clicked on or bought anything from the ads links,.

Re:Amazon is clueless about phones, tablets and vi

[Anonymous Coward]

cant believe that you don't have a Gaming system or laptop or HDMI cable from your PC to your TV? what is this the dark ages?? who uses Rokus? Wifi streaming of TV and movies is just wrong.
  and Amazon videos work just fine on my android Note 3. my phone i used normally is a Fire Phone which gets all Amazon Prime and such plus all my Google stuff i need. .

Re:Amazon is clueless about phones, tablets and vi

[Anonymous Coward]

I have amazon video on my android...

XDA

[Anonymous Coward]

Google XDA XYZ phone model

root
install fdroid
install ad-away

enjoy! :D

Re:XDA

[Anonymous Coward]

you can also go the custom rom

btw there are many many cheap options on Amazon already, such as my latest purchase of a "like-new" Amazon warehouse deal on a 32GB LG Nexus 5 which I got for less than $100 bucks for pure stock goodness

I know, all the liveleakers... errr I mean Slashdoters are gonna shit on me for saying this, but obviously their are cheap phones already, such as the Moto-G which I picked up last November for like 49.99 all in, prime, no sales tax.

you also forgot: Firefox + ublock, Chrome + uBlock + adaway/adblock plus for Android (-:

Re:Uh, no.

[JoeMerchant]

Now now, people who buy iPhones "think different" - their kind of intelligence can't be measured with the same scale as people who do things like comparison shop.

Re:I love my Fire Phone & It has no lock scree

[Anonymous Coward]

Me or my son (who has used a Kindle with ads since he was 2yo now 6yo) have never clicked on or bought anything from the ads links.

Your son has now been conditioned to accept advertising as the norm tho.

Re: Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're one of the people who didn't understand that campaign?

You mean like the Kindle's Lock screen?

[bobbied]

This is business as usual for Amazon...They've been doing this for the Kindle's they sell for ages...

But why lock yourself into a kindle/phone that is locked to Amazon's store? Don't know, other than they are CHEAPER that way... Hmmm... Seems Amazon knows how to make money, maybe this will get them into the phone market too... I know I have TWO of those Kindle things in my house right now. Darn good tablets for the price.

How about

[mrprogrammerman]

They give you the phone for free and pay you $50 to watch the ads.

Re:Amazon is clueless about phones, tablets and vi

[Anonymous Coward]

From a customer who actually likes to purchase things through Amazon.... .....
BTW, I hate monopolists or wannabe monopolists.

So, one of these statements can't make any sense.

A $50 unlocked rootable phone? Hell ya I want.

[Nyder]

Look, this phone isn't locked into shit. It's rootable. And from what I have read, you aren't even required a carrier or a plan when you buy it. I'm personally very tempted as I have a crappy dumb phone and honestly, this is a steal. But I'm a poor person and $50 is a lot of money. But I have no idea why the fuck most of you are bitching about being locked into Amazon when that isn't even true. Slashdot used to be about people who knew shit and understood that pretty much every cellphone released today is rootable. But I guess either all the old peeps are senile or their kids use their accounts now.

tl;dr shit is rootable, you aren't locked into anything.

Re:Note to Apple users: Not everything is about yo

[OrangeTide]

Just as you have no interest in Android, we have no interest in your opinion on the subject.

Re:A $50 unlocked rootable phone? Hell ya I want.

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone mentioned above, just because the phone is unlocked and rootable does NOT imply that you can install your own ROM or custom recovery on it. See the AT&T Samsung Note 3 (N900A) for an example. It's a perfectly rootable device (with KitKat and early Lollipop images + towelroot) with a locked & signed bootloader (in firmware) that absolutely cannot boot without AT&T's signing key. No way to have a custom ROM or custom recovery at all. I've even seen a child's Android tablet with locked/signed bootloader. Oddly enough, the N900V (Verizon's Note 3) can be fooled just enough to get around the bootloader signing, but AT&T hardware is missing that extra hardware that the Verizon phones have.

To Recap

• Unlocked: You can use on whatever carrier you want (note: you must be on stock firmware to unlocked a carrier locked to due to the custom menu pound-splat codes (#*))
• Rooted: You can install various system level apps that the carrier may not want you installing (SuperSU, BusyBox, XPosedFramework, BetterPrivacy, etc...)
• Unsigned Bootloader: You can install whatever ROMs and recovery you want on this phone, or turn it into a brick if you foul up. It is increasingly common to only find these on non carrier branded phones from the vendor. However, vendor phones are not guaranteed to be unsigned
• (Cryptographically) Signed Bootloader: You aren't doing anything with this unless a hacker (or you) finds a way around this. It appears, with each new version of Android, that it is becoming more difficult to get around this. Even if a way or the signing key is discovered, the DCMA could easily be used to silence anyone publishing that information

Re:Uh, no.

[GuB-42]

Why should I switch my iPhone to an Android phone again?

It probably doesn't matter to you now because you already bought the iPhone but the obvious answer is to save money.
The cheapest iPhone is $400 but $700+ is more common. With Amazon's offer, you can get a $50 smartphone. Not the same market at all.

Re:Uh, no.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's bitztream, the autism-hating Slashdot troll!

Re:Note to Apple users: Not everything is about yo

[__aaclcg7560]

Just as you have no interest in Android, we have no interest in your opinion on the subject.

A strange comment for an Amazon thread.

Re:Uh, no.

[__aaclcg7560]

The cheapest iPhone is $400 but $700+ is more common.

I got my iPhone for free. The accessories — clear case and screen protector — cost $81.

With Amazon's offer, you can get a $50 smartphone.

Why would I pay $50 more for a cellphone?

Re:A $50 unlocked rootable phone? Hell ya I want.

[Nyder]

https://www.reddit.com/r/firep...

Custom fucking rom on the Fire Phone.

Seriously, this is what Slashdot has become? A bunch of dumbfucks who can't google?

Re: Note to Apple users: Not everything is about y

[Anonymous Coward]

The strangeness can be traced to your OP.

Re: Uh, no.

[Karlt1]

Try compiling Android from source and see how useless it is without all of the proprietary Binary only drivers and Google's proprietary apps.