Amazon’s Floptastic Fire Phone Once Again Plummets To £99 In The UK
If one man's trash is another man's garbage, does the same hold true for online retailers? If so, then Amazon's flop -- heretofore known as the Fire Phone -- can be your treasure for £99 (around $156 in U.S. currency), provided you live in the UK and aren't real picky about smartphones. The Fire Phone is marked down from £299 (~$471), a laughable price for a handset that even Amazon admitted was too high.
Back in November of last year, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp went on record saying, "We didn't get the price right. I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we're also willing to say, 'we missed'. And so we corrected."
At the time, Amazon was following popular trend in the smartphone industry by using the overpriced subsidiary formula -- charging $199 for the 32GB model and $299 for the 64GB version, provided you inked a two-year service agreement with AT&T. That led to Amazon being left with $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones and a $170 million charge for its fiscal third quarter of 2014.
Amazon quickly found out that the success it had (and continues to have) in the tablet market would not be easy to duplicate in the highly competitive smartphone sector. The Fire Phone is a blemish on what's otherwise been a remarkable run for Amazon.
It's hard to know exactly what Amazon is up to with the Fire Phone price cuts in the UK. Our best guess is that it's trying to clear inventory. In addition to the reduced price on the 32GB model, Amazon is also selling a 64GB version for £179 (~$282), down from £379.
Back in November of last year, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices David Limp went on record saying, "We didn't get the price right. I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we're also willing to say, 'we missed'. And so we corrected."
At the time, Amazon was following popular trend in the smartphone industry by using the overpriced subsidiary formula -- charging $199 for the 32GB model and $299 for the 64GB version, provided you inked a two-year service agreement with AT&T. That led to Amazon being left with $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones and a $170 million charge for its fiscal third quarter of 2014.
Amazon quickly found out that the success it had (and continues to have) in the tablet market would not be easy to duplicate in the highly competitive smartphone sector. The Fire Phone is a blemish on what's otherwise been a remarkable run for Amazon.
It's hard to know exactly what Amazon is up to with the Fire Phone price cuts in the UK. Our best guess is that it's trying to clear inventory. In addition to the reduced price on the 32GB model, Amazon is also selling a 64GB version for £179 (~$282), down from £379.
