Amazon launched the US$199 Amazon Fire
smartphone to much fanfare and admiration as stated in “Amazon
delivers long-rumoured Fire Phone smartphone”, published June 18, 2014
10:59 AM PDT by Donna Tam, CNET News and “Amazon
Announces The $199 Fire Phone, The First Smartphone With Head-Tracking
Technology”, published June 18, 2014 by Matt Burns, Techcrunch.
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This
was the much rumoured Amazon smartphone
finally come to life which I’d predicted a loooong tome ago, as far back as
2012 as I’d predicted in my blog article entitled “Amazon
set to launch smartphone in Fourth Quarter of 2012AD - The App Economy and the
Increasing Importance of Digical Content”.
That
expectation heightened for me when the US$99 Amazon Fire TV came out and was a
success, prompting may to speculate that a smartphone would make a better
remote. Thus a Amazon smartphone must be
in the wings as I’d again predicted in my blog article entitled “Amazon
Fire TV is a bonafide hit and is out-of-stock according to Amazon - The Bamboo
powered smartphone running Amazon apps cometh”.
It’s
was a real media circus, the Amazon Fire smartphone and a lot more involved
than the companion US$99 Amazon
Fire TV as described in my blog article
entitled “Amazon
launches Amazon Fire TV Set Top and Gaming Console - Amazon Prime Delight
challenges Apple iTV, enflames Cord-Cutter's Nirvana portending Console Gaming
Renaissance”.
CNN
did an article; so too did the Los Angeles Times as noted in the articles “Amazon
unveils 3-D Fire Phone”, published June 18, 2014: 5:22 PM ET By James
O'Toole, CNN Money
and
“Amazon
unveils Fire smartphone”, published JUNE 18, 2014, 7:16 PM By ANDREA CHANG, CHRIS O'BRIEN, LA Times respectively.
So
too did the Wall Street Journal and even on the Geezam blog as noted in the
articles “Amazon
Unveils 'Fire Phone' Smartphone”, published June 18, 2014 9:14 p.m. ET by
GREG BENSINGER, Wall Street Journal and “Introducing
Fire, the First Smartphone Designed by Amazon” by Kelroy of the Geezam
blog.
Heck,
it even made the Jamaica Gleaner as noted in “Bezos:
Fire phone offers 'something different'”, published Sunday June 22, 2014, The
Jamaica Gleaner. Clearly, this smartphone was hotly expected. Not certain
why, as it’s already clear who it’s really geared for: Amazon Prime customers, who shelled out US$99
for 1 year free 1 day shipping.
Amazon creates a new
Magic Wand – Shopping by Nodding your Head and Finding Waldo
Now
that the Media circus has cooled off, time for me to do what I do best; basic
analysis of the future! I already did one such in the form of a extra-long
editorial on the Geezam blog entitled “Amazon
Fire is a Volkswagen for Amazon Prime subscribers that’ll drive shop-on-the-go
Online Obsession”. First it’s good to note there are two Amazon Fire
smartphones available on a two (2) year contract on Telecom Provider AT&T:
1.
32GB version for US$200
2.
64GB version for US$300
Aside
from this, they both have the same specs. Here’s the specs compared to the Gold
Standard, the Apple iPhone as so gloriously presented in “AMAZON FIRE
PHONE VS. IPHONE 5S: AMAZON’S FIRST PHONE SIDE-BY-SIDE WITH APPLE’S GOLD
STANDARD”, published June 22, 2014 By Williams Pelegrin, DigitalTrends:
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So
the specs bandwagon aside, it’s clear from reading the above article, this
isn’t an Apple iPhone competitor, despite is pseudo-Apple stylings. Rather,
it’s aimed more at the online shopper being able to more conveniently buy what
they see around them.
Firefly
dips into Amazon massive image database,
allowing Amazon Prime members toting an
Amazon Fire smartphone to literally buy what they see in an interactive game of
Find Waldo. It’s basically a Yelp-esque Native Application but for buying, not
Restaurant review hunting as draws upon image recognition technology connected
to databases most likely hosted in their AWS (Amazon Web Services).
Aside
from recognizing printed phone numbers, email, web addresses, QR and bar codes
it's also has a pretty good ear for Music and an eye for Movies, being as it
able to recognize them once samples and give the user the option to purchase
the very same title. Retailers are gonna love this phone, as it effectively a
shopping scanner in your hand that says “buy” every time you spot something, a boost
to impulsive buying as described in “Amazon's
Fire Smartphone Is a Game Changer - For Retailers”, published 6/19/2014 @ 3:24PM by Adam Hartung, Forbes.
Dynamic
Perspective makes Map Reading fun again. Tracking the relative position of your
head to the smartphone, it allows you to get a better view of the objects you
view on the Amazon Fire smartphone as described in “Amazon
Fire Phone's Dynamic Perspective offers a new angle on smartphone displays”,
published June 18, 2014 11:58 AM PDT by Nate Ralph , CNET News. It also provides an excellent way to
scroll e-books, assuming you like reading them on such a small screen instead
of the 7” Amazon Kindle Fire. Four Cameras on each corner of the Amazon Fire
smartphone power this device, making it able to recognize whichever way your
head is tilted relative to your smartphone.
Amazon Fire smartphone
– A New Family Member to reward Amazon Prime Subscribers
So
why did Amazon choose to add yet another
sibling to the Fire Family? Possibly because they knew the Amazon Prime users, having shelled out US$99
for the perk of free one day Shipping wanted one more shopaholic’s tool aside
from the Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “Amazon is
Legally Blonde as the Kindle Fire HD Upgrade is CEO Bezos’s Confessions of an
Online Shopaholic”.
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But
in such a tough and crowded field, how well will the Amazon Fire smartphone do
as asked in the article “Friday
Poll: Will you buy an Amazon Fire Phone?”, published June 20, 2014 by
Amanda Kooser, CNET News? I see it doing
well among Amazon Prime subscribers but not necessarily among Amazon users, mainly because that
functionality can be done by the Amazon App that you can get from the Apple iTunes or Google Play Store.
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