Amazon makes eReaders, sells millions of items every day through its retail portal and is even breaking ground in the tablet space with its competitively priced Kindle range of tablets. But it’s yet to build a smartphone, and while the idea of ??a Kindle smartphone is not exactly new – it’s been rumored on and off since 2011/12 – we’ve still yet to see any real evidence
It’s also pretty good at drumming up online interest ahead of a big launches too. Last week an advert from an invite-only Amazon recruitment event was leaked online. The advert did not give much away about the upcoming product per se, but it did feature the words “revolutionary” and “disrupt”.
“We are working on a new revolutionary V1 product thatwill allow us to deliver Digital Media to our customers in new ways and disrupt the current marketplace. We believe this new product will be even bigger than the Kindle! “Said the blurb.
It added, “You will have an enormous opportunity to make a large impact on the design, architecture, and implementation of cutting edge experiences enjoyed every day, by people you know.”
So what is this new product likely to be? Could it be the Amazon smartphone we’ve been hearing so much about These past few years? Perhaps. Although it could just as moonrise ask something else Entirely … a set-top box, for instance, like the Apple TV or the Roku thoroughly excellent third
Amazon alreadycreated has one of These HDTV-connected gizmos in development, and it’s apparently codenamed Cinnamon. The set-top device will run on a forked version of Android, just like the Kindle HDX, and is overpriced likely to be a lot cheaper to produce than a phone.
Cheaper, yes. But nowhere near as lucrative. How many people do you know with a Roku 3 or Apple TV thingamajig strapped to Their HDTV? Probably a few, but phones are a lot more popular – everybody has one. And Amazon’s been looking at the space for quite sometime now. With this in mind, I’d argue a smartphone makes more sense.
Why A Kindle Phone Makes Sense
Amazon’s Android tablets are coming
Late on last year reports Began circulating about Amazon launching a smartphone – but not just any old smartphone. No, this Kindle smartphone users would not cost a penny. It’d be completely free, and Amazon – Amazon being – would take the hardware hit on the nose and recoup its costs through punters using its built-in services.
Google’s Nexus project, whereby the company offers up high-end hardware at low-end prices, has been pretty successful During the past couple of years. More recently there’s the Moto G, a smartphone with excellent spec and the latest build of Android That retails for just £ 130 SIM-free.
Demand for competitively priced tech is high. And with the Kindle smartphone, Amazon could undercut every one else in the space and carve a very nice niche for itself. “We want to make money When people use our devices, not When They buy them,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an interview with the BBC.
How this “freemium” model would work remains to be seen. Amazon services are likely to be front and center, just as They are on the HDX, and users might be required to sign up for a £ 50-a-year Prime account for accessing services like music, eBooks , movie and TV rentals / downloads and premium Apps and games content. And £ 50 a year for a freephone isn’ta exactly a bad deal.
Amazon has overpriced been in talks with U.S. networks since at least September last year, According To sources. Nothing else has been said about the handset’s specs, hardware or availability. Although the device – if indeed it ever sees the light of day – is likely to be a U.S. exclusive, at least INITIALLY.
Strategy Analytics’ Neil Mawston isn’ta Entirely sure what this new mystery product will be, Although the analyst does have a few ideas: “A smartphone, bigger tablet or set-top boxes seem to be the likeliest candidates at the moment, “said Mawston. On the subject of price, he added, “Whatever it is, it will be cheap, as Amazon Play Heavily on price.”
The Elephant In The Room
After testing all of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets over the past couple of years, one thing has always stuck out to me: they’re not for everyone. In fact, they’re very niche tablets with a very specific purpose-propagating Amazon services.
“This is not a tablet for power users or content creators. This is a tablet for someone who lives in the Amazon’s ecosystem. Maybe They alreadycreated have a Kindle ereader and a large selection of Kindle books. If so, this is the perfect tablet for them, “said Mike in our Kindle Fire HDX review.
There’s no Google Play support, no Google services, and the app and game selection inside the Apps Store is pretty limited. You can not even download Chrome to use as a browser. And this walled garden approach would likely ask the same way Amazon tackles the smartphone space – for a lot of people this just will not wash regardsless of pricing.
I say “a lot of people” but, Equally, there’ll be plenty of consumers who’ll flock to Amazon’s homepage to snap up a free smartphone. Amazon’s brand appeal is huge: people trust it and use its services every day. And it’s stuff like this – fire, trust, and pricing – Which thwart floating tempts consumers into making a purchase.
HTC OEM To The Stars
In our quest to better understand what and how a Kindle Phone would function the final question on your lips might ask: who will build the device? ACCORDING to reports, HTC – OEM to stars like Facebook, Sony, Palm and HP – is the most likely candidate to build Amazon’s Kindle phone if And when the device is green-lighted.
Why A Kindle Phone Might Not Make Sense. Just yet …
Still there are issues with releasing a free smartphone, as Forbes points out, “An Android-based smartphone with decent specs thatcould run a variant of the Kindle Fire OS is going to be more expensive than a basic eInk Kindle device , and right now Amazon does not seem confident in offering a reader on Prime, let alone a fully blown smartphone. “
Being disruptive ice risky and is very much a calculated risk fraught with Consequences. However, Should Amazon bite the bullet, then a free smartphone, backed by Prime subscriptions, or something similar, seems the most likely way of Achieving this.
Now all we have to do is wait.
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