Amazon Scraps In Flames Fire Phone

Amazon attempted to enter a marketplace which is saturated by established Smartphone makers which include juggernauts Apple and Samsung. The Fire phone was launched onto the market with its fair share of pomp and circumstance around 15 months ago, its hope was to piggyback onto the name of Amazon with the aim of enticing consumers with an alternative. Turns out this idea has ended in flames as Amazon has announced that it “has no plans” to replenish a product which is currently “Out Of Stock”

This follows a recent report which stated that there have been lay-offs at the US companies Silicon Valley research-and-development lab after the phone failed to resonate with consumers. So where did it all go wrong? Part of the reason was a lack of features which really failed to capture the imagination of consumers. The primary selling point of the Fire phone was the “Dynamic Perspective” camera which was able to track the movements of the user with the aim of offering an illusion of 3D. The problem lies with the trend of consumers which have been disinterested with this type of tech. This has been seen for example with broadcaster Sky and their failed 3D channel experiment and also lacklustre sales of television sets which offer the 3D experience.

In October 2014, the company revealed it had suffered a $170m (£110.5m) write-down which was attributed to below expectation sales for the gadget. Unless you wow consumers with an amazing product which offers a completely new experience to consumers, this product was always destined to self destruct. As a spectator it will be interesting to note the direction which Amazon decides to go after such a failure, I do envisage Amazon will think twice before attempting to challenge a market which has seen substantial growth from innovative companies which offers tech that is cutting edge.

Thank you bbc for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of macobserver