AT&T Exclusivity Hindering Amazon Phone Sales

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While AT&T exclusivity may be hurting Amazon phone sales, I don't think the price is doing it any favors either.

Amazon keeps sales numbers secret but the firm came to that conclusion by tracking ad impressions generated by the phone's users. The fairly tepid sales are in large part thanks to the exclusive sales arrangement with AT&T, something we noted at launch didn't exactly scream cutting edge.
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Yeah, I'm sure the $299.00 contract price and last generation specs had nothing to do with it...:rolleyes:
 
You beat me to it, but I was going to quip that the poor specs and much-lamented UI/storefront couldn't have much to do with it...
 
lol poor specs..Please. The phone is fast enough with what I call still top of the line specs. Its a dam phone. I was going to get this phone but I went to use the demo and thought the ui was to far out there and over all the phone was just to small. I'm still on my Note 2 and don't have a reason to upgrade yet. I do like the Amazon apps it has but they should not intrude so much and be more like the android os and able to use google play. For the price yes it should have the latest hardware but what it has is still great.
 
1/2 bent said:
lol poor specs..Please. The phone is fast enough with what I call still top of the line specs. Its a dam phone. I was going to get this phone but I went to use the demo and thought the ui was to far out there and over all the phone was just to small. I'm still on my Note 2 and don't have a reason to upgrade yet. I do like the Amazon apps it has but they should not intrude so much and be more like the android os and able to use google play. For the price yes it should have the latest hardware but what it has is still great.
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Last time we all check good is never good enough. It either has to have the highest specs or some intangible that others dont have. This has neither and they hamstrung themselves by going AT&T exclusive.
 
1/2 bent said:
lol poor specs..Please. The phone is fast enough with what I call still top of the line specs. Its a dam phone. I was going to get this phone but I went to use the demo and thought the ui was to far out there and over all the phone was just to small. I'm still on my Note 2 and don't have a reason to upgrade yet. I do like the Amazon apps it has but they should not intrude so much and be more like the android os and able to use google play. For the price yes it should have the latest hardware but what it has is still great.
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I think the complaint is that the specs do not justify the price. It should have been cheaper and not priced as a "flagship" premium. Some people do go off the specs when determining their phones.
 
I wonder if Android's early growth would have been stunted a little if the early iPhones weren't AT&T exclusive.
 
The specs don't matter. It's a relatively expensive, niche-oriented device on a single carrier. How well could you honestly expect it to do? Honestly, if Amazon expected people to flock to this device, they really didn't do their market research.
 
Parmenides said:
I wonder if Android's early growth would have been stunted a little if the early iPhones weren't AT&T exclusive.
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Probably not. Android's growth is all about cheap devices that everyone carries. That's not a slam, it's just a reality. I was looking at a chart the other day, can't remember where exactly, but it depicted by percentage three tiers of the purchase price ranges for Android, iOS and Windows Phones phones. Like most that know the industry would expect, people pluck down the most on iPhones by far and away. Android actually did a bit better than Windows Phone at the high end than Windows Phone and Windows Phone did a bit better in the middle, but the vast bulk of Android and Windows Phone were in the bottom price tier. Apple simply has a lock on the most expensive phones, tablets and computers. Apple will never lead in market share on any of these devices ever again, but they don't have to.

As far as the Fire phone, I love Amazon. But this company is going to start to face serious questions about how it's going to make money going forward. Coming out with a new phone that isn't an iPhone or Samsung device these days and expecting to rake in the cash just isn't happening.
 
Haven't yet had the option to try the amazon phone, but if it isn't really great, it's going nowhere at that price. I basically switched from the iphone because of the tie in with itunes; for anyone who knows how to do their own file management, itunes really sucks; and the way that they use planned obsolescence to make people buy new phones and new computers to run the newest version of their firmware and software really pisses me off. So, I tried a cheap android phone, which also sucked, then got a moto x on republic wireless/Sprint. And everything worked. Perfectly, for $25 a month. So, a top tier android phone is fine. but get a decent carrier; at&t isn't it, at least where I live,work, play and shop, and that's northern nj/ nyc area. Sprint works way better, and the sound of the phone calls is terrific, as good as pots duplex (I can't explain why, but I'm sure some electronics genius can).

teh_chem said:
The specs don't matter. It's a relatively expensive, niche-oriented device on a single carrier. How well could you honestly expect it to do? Honestly, if Amazon expected people to flock to this device, they really didn't do their market research.
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Maybe where the amazon offices are, at&t has great signal and lots of headroom. Add that to the 'yes man' business model and you have a ready made loser product, everybody telling Bezos that his phone is great, better than an iphone, note or moto x, and of course he believes it.
 
Expensive phone and shit crazy expensive plans is what is hindering the Amazon Phone.

If it came with free data for all PRIME media, it would sell like hotcakes.

But that will never, ever happen with AT&T.
 
1/2 bent said:
lol poor specs..Please. The phone is fast enough with what I call still top of the line specs. Its a dam phone. I was going to get this phone but I went to use the demo and thought the ui was to far out there and over all the phone was just to small. I'm still on my Note 2 and don't have a reason to upgrade yet. I do like the Amazon apps it has but they should not intrude so much and be more like the android os and able to use google play. For the price yes it should have the latest hardware but what it has is still great.
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OK, the phone doesn't have "poor specs". The phone is fully capable of handling anything from the Play Store today. However, the price suggests that it's either a premium flagship phone, or it's an overpriced mid/high-grade phone.

The phone is selling poorly for a magnitude of reasons, but primarily because there are so many other, better phones, for $299 on-contract. If you bring a phone to the market with a $299 on-contract price, it better be a bad-ass phone, especially if it's a carrier exclusive...
 
What shocks me is Amazon went against nearly everything they stand for...Well thought out value and volume pricing. Before getting into the subpar specs(screen, lack of expansion) the simple fact that they are limiting themselves to about one third of the market is enough to cause problems.

Now to say if it is a failure or not you would have to look at the deal offered by AT&T to be the exclusive provider. Maybe they knew the phone was not going to sell when they made the deal so ...I am still leaning towards Amazon thinking they adding custom software would add value.

For those defend the specs why would you pay the same amount as other phones and get less value for your money? Just because it is good enough to function does not make it a great deal.
 
Ponder said:
What shocks me is Amazon went against nearly everything they stand for...Well thought out value and volume pricing. Before getting into the subpar specs(screen, lack of expansion) the simple fact that they are limiting themselves to about one third of the market is enough to cause problems.

Now to say if it is a failure or not you would have to look at the deal offered by AT&T to be the exclusive provider. Maybe they knew the phone was not going to sell when they made the deal so ...I am still leaning towards Amazon thinking they adding custom software would add value.

For those defend the specs why would you pay the same amount as other phones and get less value for your money? Just because it is good enough to function does not make it a great deal.
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Because of the magic tracking cameras? I dunno. Personally I wouldn't even look at one after having handled the kindle fire. UI and UX was awful from my experience, and I moved on never to look back. None of the killer features of the phone are remotely killer features IMO. I think part of the ATT thing was that they went in considering the sponsored data thing, and ATT was the only carrier that really gives them the option of using that both on day one, and for any significant time before a hardware refresh is needed to keep up with the market cycles.

I don't think the whole thing from both a hardware perspective and a business plan perspective worked out as intended.
 
teh_chem said:
The specs don't matter. It's a relatively expensive, niche-oriented device on a single carrier. How well could you honestly expect it to do? Honestly, if Amazon expected people to flock to this device, they really didn't do their market research.
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Its only niche to people over invested in the Google ecosystem which includes most tech writers. They look at Amazon and say, "not another one to learn". They translate their discontent with their job to the phone itself.
 
Well....for all the doubters out there.... I tried one of these for about 3 days, and came to this conclusion:

it S*U*C*K*S......

why you ask ?

1) Over priced- especially considering what you get (or don't get) for the price.....
2) ATT only- really sucks in my area (PA)
3) the UI is slow as molasses for anything other than making calls
4) battery life is so-so at best
5) charging is slow too
6) too many (hidden) hooks into my amaxon account (just like the fire tv was when I had it 2 months ago...sent it back too! )

I could probably list a few other things if I wanted to waste more of my time, but I digress.....for now...
 
ps...it should have been .99 from day 1 on all carriers, then they would have sold an buttload of them, at least until the buyers figured out why it was only .99 :D
 
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