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AMAZON UNVEILED ITS “Fire Phone,” a high-end handset boasting ‘breakthrough technologies,” which enters a crowded market dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled the device, Amazon’s first smartphone of its own, which has a 4.7-inch display, a high-definition camera and Amazon’s free help service.
The phone also ties in to Amazon’s vast array of other offerings, serving as a platform for digital content such as books, films and music and connecting users to the firm’s cloud storage.
“Fire Phone puts everything you love about Amazon in the palm of your hand – instant access to Amazon’s vast content ecosystem” said Bezos.
The handset has what Bezos called a “dynamic” display which shows images in three dimensions, and a scanner which recognizes products for sale and a variety of other objects such as artworks.
Amazon described these features as “two new breakthrough technologies that allow you to see and interact with the world through a whole new lens.”
The so-called “dynamic perspective” uses a sensor system “to respond to the way you hold, view, and move Fire, enabling experiences not possible on other smartphones,” Amazon said.
Another feature dubbed “Firefly” recognizes things in the real world such as web and email addresses, phone numbers, bar codes, and millions of products, “and lets you take action in seconds” to buy a product or create a music playlist, for example.
Contrary to some speculation, Amazon is not shaking up the pricing model for the smartphone market – selling the device to US customers through AT&T at $200 with a contract, starting 25 July.
“Fire Phone is less about competing with iPhone and Galaxy and more about helping Amazon continuing to build loyalty, solidifying customer relationships and selling more stuff,” independent telecom analyst Jeff Kagan said.
Forrester Research analyst Julie Ask offered a similar view.
“Amazon’s success in mobile will not be defined by handset sales, but by what it learns, adds to its portfolio of services, and its ability to increase the quantity and improve the quality of mobile moments with its consumers,” she said.
The relatively small size – closer to the iPhone in size than the larger Samsung phones – allows for easy one-handed operation. The display allows for a more “immersive” experience because it recognizers the user’s position and adapts the image.
The new device, Amazon’s first smartphone, has the potential to shake up the segment because of online giant’s clout, large customer base and willingness to sell devices at low profit margins, some analysts said.
Trip Chowdhry, analyst at Global Equities Research, said Amazon is now taking on rivals such as Google and Apple head-on.
In a note to clients, Chowdhry said the Amazon phone has “innovations that Apple will need to catch up to.”
“Apple has probably fallen behind in innovation – they are still struggling with figuring out the right screen size, while Amazon is racing ahead with innovations, with dynamic perspective and Firefly being the most ground breaking innovations,” Chowdhry wrote.
He added that Google and Amazon are now more direct competitors, because Amazon uses a modified or “forked” version of Android.
“Amazon.com’s FireOS is not good news for Google, as this could hurt Google’s developer ecosystem and could provide an alternate Amazon’s AppStore to Google’s Play.”
- © AFP 2014.
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Kindle fire HD not released in Ireland due to licensing laws.. Same story here?
Hasn’t it been available for around a year now?
Imagine, a company called ‘Amazon’ calling their flagship entry into the mobile market after fire and destruction!
Nice association
“Amazon Chainsaw”
Unless they were offering a cheaper alternative I wouldn’t move. Think they made a mistake there. The main way to get market share is undercut competition.
A race to the bottom ?
Better off offering a superior product at same price it higher.
What about the concept of when the technology has been around for a few years the price comes down. Just like computers?
Nothing special going on here…. Android will have an app to do everything unique about this.
Plus, 720p display? for 700 euro approx? Head on to Elverys and jog on!
Amazon have a hit with their tablets because, like Google Nexus devices, they sell at cost (or a loss) because Amazon/Google don’t mind making their money purely on the services bundled. They’ve got a miss on their hands here!
Love the kindle fire but the way amazon stonewall their app store is hugely infuriating. Netflix only recently available. No youtube app. No skygo app. Would pass on phone for that reason.
Head hacking smartphone…..
There isn’t anything amazing in this “high end phone” that would set it aside from the likes of the IPhone and HTC one, two well established phones with their own USP’s. Where as the new Amazon phone sounds very mid range to me in comparison with the others .
Unless it has a battery that lasts more than a couple of days it will be just the same as all other smartphones on the market. Overpriced and connected to a charger most of the day every day.
It will help accelerate innovation hopefully.
have your say