When Amazon announced its long rumoured smartphone, the Fire Phone, it was met with substantial skepticism, primarily because of the operating system it runs on – while technically Android, Fire OS uses its own app store with a heavy emphasis on media, books, movies, music, you name it. It definitely had some intriguing technology built in like the dynamic 3D display, but in a world dominated by Android and iOS with Windows and Blackberry tagging along at a distant third and fourth, the Fire Phone was always going to face an uphill battle. However, from Amazon’s recently released quarterly results, and from the quoted number of unsold Amazon Fire Phones, it seems that battle might actually have been more of a wall.
Amazon has said that in their last quarter, the company has been hit by a $437 million USD loss, $170 million of which was “primarily related to Fire phone inventory valuation and supplier commitment costs”. To add salt to that wound, Amazon said that it has $83 million worth of unsold Amazon Fire Phones, which really hammers home exactly how much Amazon had overestimated its device’s popularity – this might actually have been a situation that OnePlus’ invite system might have saved Amazon a little.
What do you think of Amazon’s losses due to the Fire Phone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Gamesindustry via Overclockers Club
