Amazon’s smartphone: replaying a successful strategy
The Amazon Fire Phone video launch lasts for almost 90 minutes, but is worth watching: it provides a fascinating illustration of Jeff Bezos’ concept of innovation and how he applies it to his company’s products and services. Parts of the video are eye candy for any fan of technology, while the explanation of the development of some of the functionalities of the device, from the original concept to working with developers (e.g., between minutes 55:30 and 1:09), is little short of a master class.
What’s more, the presentation is focused on customer relations, creating high trust environments, and reflects the company’s vocation for making it as easy as possible to purchase its goods and services.
Obviously, it was only a matter of time before Amazon would launch its own smartphone: the company has notched up success in other hardware categories, and looks set to repeat the formula by creating a device that helps its consumers use its services precisely at a moment when the cellphone has become an increasingly important platform in the electronic commerce market.
That said, the Amazon Fire Phone is clearly not for everybody, but certainly makes sense for the company’s Prime customers, or who see themselves becoming one. As a phone it’s fine, but it is the package of Amazon services that come with it that makes the device such an interesting prospect… for those who like Amazon as a supplier. In short, you buy in to Amazon’s products: music, television and movies, and books: all on the same device.
Jokes about Amazon’s treatment of some of its suppliers aside, it’s clear that the smartphone is taking over: in my case, there are times when I use it more often than my tablet for reading; and let’s not forget that when I do, this is being relayed in real time by myself, and the hundreds of thousands of other users every time we open the app on our phones. And it is here where the rest of the design factors of the Amazon’s device really comes into its own: Firefly is an app that recognizes just about anything (for the moment something like hundreds of millions of songs, films, television series, television channels and products of all types from their barcodes, appearance, etc) that the telephone’s camera can see, converting it into a reusable item for whatever use: if I show it a phone number it will allow me to dial it immediately.
If I show it a painting, it will provide information about it. And if I show it a book, or some other product, I can set about buying it almost immediately, at a click. In many ways, this is a similar idea to “Amazon Dash without the dash”, converted into an app for a smartphone and with a much wider range of criteria.
If we add to this an almost limitless storage capacity via the cloud for our photos, and an “ASAP” tool that uses predictive software to cache videos it thinks you will watch, and make them immediately available for streaming, along with a tilt facility to scroll when reading, or the Mayday access to 24/7 tech support in 15 seconds or less, and we are talking about some serious value proposition. But, as said, this device is not for everybody, and really only makes sense for Amazon customers. I should say at this point that my iPad has been lying idle in a drawer for the last couple of months since I got my Kindle Fire. I said this would happen when it came out, and I’m not the only one. I think that in many ways, Amazon is repeating many of the aspects that it put into the Kindle Fire, and that have clearly worked.
Not everybody is as impressed as me with the launch, a point of view that is easy to understand if you live in a country where Amazon has yet to fully roll out its panoply of services. But I am impressed with the company’s understanding of innovation and the way it has put this at the service not so much of a phone, but a complete ecosystem. Amazon has taken its time in launching a smartphone, but now that it has, it has managed to do so on its own terms. All in all, a very smart move.
(En español, aquí)
