SEATTLE—Jeff Bezos today took the stage at the Fremont Studio here, and wowed the crowd of journalists and Amazon customers alike with the highly anticipated Amazon Fire Phone.
And as expected, the Fire Phone incorporates a ton of new, very impressive tech to achieve some truly unique tricks in the smartphone world. But while the 3D Dynamic Perspective and Firefly product-recognition systems were all well and good, none of this came as any surprise. The biggest surprise, for me at least, was the traditional smartphone pricing route Amazon chose for its exclusive deal with AT&T.
I can deal with the exclusivity, though Sascha Segan will tell you all that's wrong with that idea. What I can't believe is that Amazon, a company with a history of shaking up hardware markets with aggressively priced products, stuck to the tried-and-true $199 with two-year contract status quo of U.S. smartphone sales.
There's a sea change underway in the mobile world, led largely by initiatives like T-Mobile's contract-free, unsubsidized approach and manufacturers like Motorola proving that an affordable smartphone doesn't necessarily have to be a cheap smartphone. The contractual yokes and muddied world of subsidized phone pricing are prime for upheaval. The Moto G and OnePlus One are showing American customers that they don't have to spend an arm and a leg for a competent, desirable device. T-Mobile and an army of MVNOs are offering up contract-free service plans that can save savvy customers boatloads of money in the long run.
But instead of joining the charge, Amazon fell into rank with carriers and dominant manufacturers like Apple and Samsung. The original Kindle Fire tablet ignited a movement of affordable, easily accessible tablets. It was a game changer. The Fire Phone has some neat tricks, but it's not changing any markets other than Amazon's online retail market, which it should do plenty to bolster.
Don't get me wrong, the Fire Phone is an impressive device that surely warrants the $199 price. But the mobile market is ripe for change, and I was expecting something bigger from Amazon here. Instead, we got business as usual.
For more, check out PCMag's live blog from the Fire Phone event.