Guest Robert Nazarian Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 Last week Amazon finally introduced their first smartphone to the world, which didn’t seem all that spectacular. Amazon does have a major brand, but the pricing and lack of anything compelling makes me wonder if it will succeed. However, according to a report from the Korea Times, Samsung and LG should be scared. One industry official said, “The top appealing factor for the Amazon phone is competitive pricing and the technology that enables it to produce three-dimensional (3D) images.” What competitive pricing? $199 on contract and $650 off contract is far from competitive. Yes, the 3D, or as the call it dynamic perspective, is different, but is it something that consumers really desire? Probably the biggest thing Amazon has going for it is it’s services such as Amazon Cloud, Prime Instant Video, Firefly, and their entire retail site. However, Prime Instant Video and Firefly are the only apps that you can’t find on other Android devices (Instant Prime is on iOS ironically). To me, the only compelling reason to buy any device that is Amazon branded would be for Prime Instant Video, and that isn’t enough for me. Firefly is definitely not enough of a reason. Which would you rather have? Firefly and Prime Instant Video or Google services such as the Play Store, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, Hangouts, Drive, and more? With all that said, Samsung Securities analyst Cho Sung-eun thinks that Samsung and LG should be a little scared because hardware specifications won’t be the deciding factor for smartphones in the future. I think Samsung and LG already know that based on the ecosystem they have tried to build, especially Samsung. I just don’t see it. LG might have something to fear since they don’t have all that much of a market share to begin with, but I can’t see the Amazon Fire Phone putting much of a dent into Samsung’s dominance. What do you guys think? source: Korea Times Come comment on this article: Should LG and Samsung fear the Amazon Fire Phone? Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more! News via TalkAndroid
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