Under the Apple Hype Machine, Amazon Drops Fire Phone Price To 99 Cents 134
Whatever it is that Apple's going to announce a few hours from now, it seems Amazon has decided it's probably not going to send people rushing to buy its Fire phone. Amazon's cut the price of the phone from $199 to 99 cents. At that price, the Fire phone comes with free Amazon Prime membership, too -- but also a 2-year contract with (exclusive carrier) AT&T. Writes ExtremeTech: Whether that’s going to be enough to stimulate sales is an open question — $450 unlocked is still a tough sell for a device that is overmatched by products like the cheaper Nexus 5, or the recently unveiled $500 second-gen Moto X.
In August, adoption data from advertising agency Chitika claimed that total Amazon Fire Phone sales were paltry, representing just 0.015-0.02% of phones in use, or fewer than 30,000 phones. That number will have doubtlessly ticked up slightly since then, and it’s true that Amazon’s partners, like AT&T, have aggressively pushed the phone in online stores.
It's a Fire Sale (Score:5, Funny)
Someone had to say it.
Re:It's a Fire Sale (Score:4, Funny)
Roger Danish: Um... would you like to try that a little simpler... maybe?
Tobias: No.
Re:It's a Fire Sale (Score:5, Interesting)
Joking aside, the "99 cents" headline might give the impression of a big (if not "fire sale") reduction, but it's is as misleading (and pointless) on its own as the subsidised headline "price" of *any* contract-tied phone is.
This post already made the point [slashdot.org] that the total price of phone + contract (since you can't get the former without the latter) over two years is $600, which implies that it was $800 before when the still-contract-tied phone was selling for "$200" and it was being panned as an awful deal [extremetech.com].
If it's not quite a non-story, it's not the one it's being made out to be either.
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And worse, Amazon pimps the Fire Sale Phone with that all time, well-loved and respected AT&T-- champion of all that is holy and moral in telephony.
It's not apple this time! (Score:5, Insightful)
They failed on their own merits.
I doubt the Bigass iPhone thing today's the reason why they tipped on this.
Re:It's not apple this time! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's not apple this time! (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't have that going for it anymore. [thenextweb.com]
The UI's interesting as an experiment, but ultimately really creepy.
I'm pretty sure Aldous Huxley has a few things to say about an electronic gizmo that serves as an entry way to cheap consumer goods.
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At least he wasn't an Epsilon. They had to wear black all the time, and got the dirtiest jobs.
Re:It's not apple this time! (Score:4, Insightful)
Well it's easy enough for pretentious 9 year olds to use for playing Minecraft, at least that's all I got out of the commercial. Pretty sure the blame for this phone's flop lies squarely at the feet of Amazon's marketing department or whoever they hired to produce the TV ad. The phone itself barely makes an appearance in the commercial, it's just a couple of kids yammering about how they're going to stream stuff and play games, followed by a double plug for Amazon Prime, which I'm still scratching my head over. I don't need to buy a new phone to get Amazon Prime.
Is Amazon trying to sell an actual product here, or just selling the idea of a digital babysitter? Either way I guess I'm not their target audience and I sorta wonder who is.
Re:It's not apple this time! (Score:5, Insightful)
I think they hired Microsoft's marketing department to do the commercial.
It's not even believable anyway. My irritating hipster children only use Apple products!
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You can knock Microsoft and Amazon all day long for their phones not taking the world by storm, but I think that actually sells short the remarkable phenomenon that is the iPhone & associated Apple universe. One of the takeaways here for me is that it truly is almost impossible to break into the smart phone market this late in the game given what Apple has done - at least here in the US.
To see MS & Amazon, who have generally succeeded and overpowered rivals for many years, fail to make a true dent i
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Thing is, Android is being very successful, even at the high end where it competes with Apple. I don't think Android's necessarily any better than Windows Phone 8 (although I find it more attractive), so it's worth asking why Android and not Microsoft.
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You have a really good point & it's something I was considering while making my original post but couldn't address it concisely so I left it out. So here's my non-concise ideas on that.
My general take is that WP & the Amazon phones seem to be something more akin to the iPhone: an attempt to make an integrated hardware/software device (or at least one built to strict standards) that has a real distinct brand & tie in to the related manufacturers universes (or more cynically, walled gardens). Andr
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I would sooner give my money to amazon than be part of the goog puppet master experiment.
My impression, it being an Android device, is that if you give your money to Amazon you still become part of the GOOG ecosystem with all that entails. Am I wrong?
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I see. So, no Google Now support, no Gmail support, and no Google search support without modifications?
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http://mail.google.com/ [google.com]
it has support for google search and gmail.
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Does it have "Unknown sources" support for installing APKs from developers that haven't paid the annual fee for Amazon Appstore? Google Play Store, by comparison, doesn't charge an annual fee after a one-time $25.
how the heck should i know? and why do you have such a hard on for apks? do you like HOSTS?
APK != APK (Score:2)
how the heck should i know?
If you have a Fire Phone, you should be able to tell whether its security settings have a checkbox to allow installation of applications from unknown sources. The first-generation Kindle Fire did.
and why do you have such a hard on for apks? do you like HOSTS?
I'm talking APK as in Android package, not APK as in proponent of hosts files as a first line of defense in layered security [neowin.net].
My info was outdated by about a year (Score:2)
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I doubt the Bigass iPhone thing today's the reason why they tipped on this.
I think it plays heavily in to the decision, and the timing. Apple and Amazon are the two brand names that have a content and hardware eco-sphere, so they compete directly in a section of the market. Amazon is intent on taking more of that share, and the Fire phone is a part of the strategy.
Re:It's not apple this time! (Score:4, Insightful)
The difference between Apple and Amazon is that Apple understands there's a market outside of the USA.
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Well Amazon are planning to sell the Fire Phone through O2 in the UK. Problem is that most people in the UK buy their phone separately from their airtime contract.
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The business cases for both are completely opposite, however.
Amazon makes devices to sell content and services. They sell Kindle hardware, Fire hardware, etc., at cost (practically). The goal here is to promote use of Am
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So I would amend your comment to stay that Apple cares about content but cares about hardware sales more. Amazon just cares about content sales.
I'm happy the Amazon Fire flopped. I don't want Microsoft to be the undisputed king of desktop PC operating systems, I don't want Apple or Samsung to be the undisputed king of smart phones,
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Sure that's the reason? I don't think Apple wants lowest prices to get its cut, I think Apple wants them so everything available on iOS looks like a good deal, so nobody's thinking they could have gotten some particular book or something cheaper elsewhere. It makes the walled garden less attractive if things are more expensive there.
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They failed on their own merits.
I doubt the Bigass iPhone thing today's the reason why they tipped on this.
Right... the Amazon Fire is half the speed and double the price of every other popular phone on the market. Their marketing and product development departments failed big time. There's no reason to buy a fire other than the 3D effect, and 3D has failed as a gimick in every market it's ever entered starting with Time Traveler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... [wikipedia.org]
Stack on top of that Amazon creating their own closed app store and you have a money grab so obvious it drove even the particularly naive Ameri
Spoon (Score:5, Insightful)
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No kidding. For all the talk about Apple's walled garden, Amazon seems to have more crippled devices with higher walls.
And, really, if Microsoft or any other vendor could lock people into their walled gardens they'd do it in a heartbeat.
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And, really, if Microsoft or any other vendor could lock people into their walled gardens they'd do it in a heartbeat.
Maybe, but that is mostly due to the observed success Apple had. Windows Mobile 6 had no walls beyond it being an ARM cpu and you had to use the right compiler settings. It also was randomly crippled by different providers because Microsoft didn't rule over it with the sociopathic tenacity Steve Jobs put into all his work. Windows Phones 7 and up have been consistent because Microsoft recognized a problem with letting service providers decide when to release OS patches, and then took the remaining two st
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"Microsoft came out with something that's a tablet-laptop hybrid. If you get the cool keyboard it adds $100 to the cost, so $450 for the base model." "Oh yeah? How
Re:Spoon (Score:5, Insightful)
I disagree with you on the walled garden argument - I can read Amazon Kindle books on the Kindle ecosystem series of devices, Apple devices, Android devices, Windows 8 devices, Windows Phone devices, Macs, Windows PCs, Linux PCs, Blackberrys and others.
I can read Apple iBooks on ... Apple devices and Macs.
I can view Amazon Instant Video content on various Kindles, Apple devices, Android devices, Windows 8 devices, all the major consoles, tonnes of TVs natively, and of course Windows PCs and Macs.
I can view Apple iTunes video content on ... Apple devices and Macs.
My content purchased from Amazon certainly seems to be available on a much wider range of devices than content purchased from Apple...
Why buy Amazon hardware? (Score:4, Insightful)
I disagree with you on the walled garden argument - I can read Amazon Kindle books on the Kindle ecosystem series of devices
You've got it backwards. The question is why we would need a crippled Amazon device? I can buy an iPad and buy music and books and merchandise from Amazon. I cannot buy a Kindle and buy music from Apple. So I have less restrictions buying the Apple hardware than the Amazon hardware because Amazon software and content will run on more platforms.
Amazon's Fire tablets and phones are nothing special and are clearly aimed at getting you to buy more stuff from Amazon rather than for being a general use device. I don't really need Amazon's help there so what is the point of these devices? Even their e-paper based Kindles are pretty locked down (my wife has one) and it's relatively awkward to do anything other than buy stuff from Amazon with it.
My content purchased from Amazon certainly seems to be available on a much wider range of devices than content purchased from Apple...
Apple is trying to sell you a device. Amazon is trying to sell you content and stuff from their store. I'd rather have the Apple device and be able to buy from Amazon than they Amazon device and be unable to buy from Apple.
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I can buy an iPad and buy music and books and merchandise from Amazon. I cannot buy a Kindle and buy music from Apple. So I have less restrictions buying the Apple hardware than the Amazon hardware because Amazon software and content will run on more platforms.
Yeah, that isn't *ever* going to change because it would require Apple to do it, and they won't as you point out. So I don't have it backward at all.
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So I don't have it backward at all.
'Fraid you do at least on the hardware. You are correct about their software and media. Amazon's software is less locked down but their hardware is more restrictive. I cannot really see any point to buying Amazon's hardware given the available alternatives. I could buy a Nexus or other Android tablet and have access to basically everything I get from Amazon's offerings but without the Amazon sales pitch or weird modified version of Android. I can buy Apple's hardware and have access to basically all of
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You can argue that all you want, buts its an incredibly twisted argument - basically your argument boils down to "Amazons hardware is more restrictive because Apple doesn't release stuff for it" which, while its true that Apple won't ever release it, doesn't mean they cannot do it (its fairly trivial to write something for the Fire series, its an Android device!).
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For a multi-purpose / general purpose tablet, I agree.
I bought a used Kindle Paperwhite, though, and I find it's a very neat device. Even as extra weight (7 or 8 ounces?) on a trip by plane, it's been good to have along, even with a Nexus 7 in the same bag. I can read a book on either, but the Kindle a) has a crazy-long battery life, saving the other device for things like checking Google Maps on the other side of the trip, and b) is easier to hold.
I intended to use it only for free / out-of-copyright stuff
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Seriously, you can side load APK's very easily, provided you know how to use a USB cable... and for the e-ink kindles (and tablets) simply emailing a mobi/pdf/whatever (although the lack of support for epub is annoying.) to your send to kindle email is 'awkward' ?
Re:Why buy Amazon hardware? (Score:4, Insightful)
I could hardly believe that I couldn't even browse the iTunes store without installing iTunes. Yeah I don't fucking think so. Just like the Windows 8 "store" --- not accessible from a browser that you know has bookmarks, and tabs and doesn't feel like a stupid-ass "app".
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The iPhone and iPad are open for content purposes (even if you can't necessarily get the apps you want). iTunes isn't. Apple is mostly trying to sell iDevices here, so having the iPhone and iPad able to read not only Kindle and Nook books but also iBooks makes them slightly more appealing.
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Seriously, you can side load APK's very easily, provided you know how to use a USB cable...
I'll do that when you can explain how to someone who isn't a geek (like my mother) such that they will actually bother. Seriously, THAT is your solution? Sorry no. I'll just buy a device where I don't have to bother.
and for the e-ink kindles (and tablets) simply emailing a mobi/pdf/whatever (although the lack of support for epub is annoying.) to your send to kindle email is 'awkward' ?
Emailing a document is easy enough to get single documents to the kindle but it is a rotten way to manage numerous documentse. Furthermore most PDF are not formatted in a e-ink kindle friendly format, especially those in color. Most PDFs are formatted for Letter/A4 sized paper and viewing t
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yar, i just went the calibre route and converted to mobi. My point was more along the lines of "why doesn't amazon support this by default?"
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Even their e-paper based Kindles are pretty locked down (my wife has one) and it's relatively awkward to do anything other than buy stuff from Amazon with it.
It's still easier and more pleasant to read on e-ink than LCD.
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A lot of the pirate "webrip" releases are from iTunes, so actually you can kinda watch iTunes content on other devices :-)
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I can view Apple iTunes video content on ... Apple devices and Macs.
There is a Windows version of iTunes, you know... but it is true that there's no iBooks for Windows.
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No kidding. For all the talk about Apple's walled garden, Amazon seems to have more crippled devices with higher walls.
And, really, if Microsoft or any other vendor could lock people into their walled gardens they'd do it in a heartbeat.
Not really the fire line of tablets lets you sideload apps I installed fdroid app repository on my kindle fire, which I happen to be posting from. That's not to say their perfect by any means for example you cant replace the keyboard without rooting your device which is just stupid and pain in the ass when I need to use ssh and have no metakeys, yet have symbols for copyright trademark registered and infinity but no tab. There are other minor nits to pick but saying they have a worse garden wall then apple
Re: Spoon (Score:1)
I have the Amazon App Store installed on all my Android devices. Anybody can go to Amazon and download and install the .apk file to have their market available as an alternative. It's the only way my devices are 'tied' to Amazon. In all honesty, Amazon's presence in the app marketplace is what breaks through Google's Play Store walled garden on (unrooted) Android.
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Oh man, this totally reminds me of the Spoonman Quicktime demo. Was that an act of prescience?
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As a diehard apple fanboy, I'm pretty much OK with this. As long as i can have VLC or something similar for movies(Which is in the iOS store; and similar apps do exist) and side load MP3s, I'm good.
However, the creepy part isn't the bowl or the spoon, it's the bowl insisting you restock your cereal using amazon and you can order right from the fucking bowl.
Editors, please fix title (Score:2, Insightful)
Amazon Drops Fire Phone Price To $450
FTFY. The price is $450. If you buy it for $0.99, you are actually paying $600.99 because it includes an overpriced phone service contract.
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Yet you can get a nokia 510 (win8 phone) at target for 60 bucks, and pay 60 a month for 2GB of data (pre paid, no contract)
As much as the app selection on windows phone sucks, i'd take that over this 'deal' any day of the week.
Fire = Zune (Score:5, Insightful)
Amazon is a victim of their own hubris, not Apple.
Only an idiot or egomaniac would think that Amazon could compete with that product...that phone...it had too many dumb bells and whistles (3D screen! ooh shiny!) but all the important details were wrong.
Amazon lost out to a better designed, better marketed, more established, funner to use product...just like M$ did with Zune
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No Google Play Store (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, you can still install and run Android apps like any other Android phone, as long as those apps are actually available from the Amazon app store. Not all apps have been customized or tested to run on Amazon's particular Android build, which is a little more custom than the "skin" other Android builders commonly use.
No, it's not as bad as a Zune, but it doesn't offer any compelling case over the more-standard alternatives.
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Err, not quite like any Android phone. You don't get to install a lot of apps.
Google/Android has two tiers of "openSource" when it comes to Android [arstechnica.com]. If you play by their rules, you get cool stuff like the Play Store, Google Maps, and Google Now, and others. If you fork (FireOS, Tizen to a lesser extent) you get none of those, and you need to build them out, since those are the expectations (especially maps) for a modern smartphone. This is why Samsung is licensing mapping data itself [arstechnica.com] - it doesn't want to fe
Re:Fire = Zune (Score:4, Insightful)
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from a purely technical perspective, the Zune interested me because you could really use it as a hybrid external drive and output any media file to any device...see, technically ****all devices can do that**** but because of copyright, artificial scarcity, bad design, and bloat most of the time we get devices from the manufacturer that are locked down (ex: iphone)
of course, Zune's problem was M$...they had to slap their proprietary stuff onto the Zune to make sure you paid a monthly fee somehow
i had a frien
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More to the point, the Amazon App Store has to compete with the Google Play Store. While all the most popular apps may be on Amazon, local / niche apps generally are not, things like the apps for my local bus service, public cycle hire service, theatre group etc. They are only available on Google Play and Apple App Store. While individually these apps may only have an installed base of a few thousand, almost everyone is in the market for a similar sort of app somewhere in the world.
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Only an idiot or egomaniac would think that Amazon could compete with that product...that phone...it had too many dumb bells and whistles (3D screen! ooh shiny!) but all the important details were wrong.
Everyone other than Apple and Android phones has to convince potential customers that their phone is better or cheaper than an iPhone or both, and at the same time better or cheaper than each of a wide range of Android phones.
Making something that some people would prefer to an iPhone is doable. Making something that some people would prefer to an Android phone is doable. Making something that does both at the same time is very, very hard.
um no (Score:2)
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"but also a 2-year contract with (exclusive carrier) AT&T." Wow, what a deal! I think I'd actually rather rip out all my teeth one at a time though.
Isn't that was AT&T is doing... Ripping out a tooth every month for 24 months... I don't think I have that many teeth.... Left that is....
Amazon's phone versus Amazon's tablet (Score:4, Insightful)
The Kindle Fire was a well-marketed, cheap tablet launched at a time most people were just starting to hear how fun and useful tablets could be. Many people wanted a tablet, but were unwilling to drop $500 on an iPad - those folks bought a Kindle Fire. (Yeah there were other cheap tablets, but frankly the average Joe didn't ever hear about them)
The Fire Phone comes at a time when iOS and Android phones are already entrenched. The majority of people who want a smartphone already own one. Worse, there's not an obvious price gap between the Fire and it's erstwhile competition. Free Prime shipping isn't going to sell the phone, since the types of people who know about Prime are the type of people that already bought into a phone platform years ago.
It's not 99 cents (Score:2, Informative)
It's not 99 cents. It's cost is covered in monthly payments.
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Until AT&T offers a plan where it is cheaper to either bring your own phone, or buy the phone outright at time of contract, the cost of the phone is $0.99
No. $0.99 + $x/month for 24 months is never equal to $0.99 (assuming x > 0). Even if the monthly fee is the same as the fee for a service-only contract (in which case the USA phone market is even more screwed up than I thought) - if you can't walk in to the shop, hand over 99 cents and take a phone away with no further obligation then the phone doesn't "cost" $0.99.
Here in the UK, when I did the maths a couple of years ago, "bring your own phone" wasn't necessarily cheaper, but if you looked into cont
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Even if the monthly fee is the same as the fee for a service-only contract (in which case the USA phone market is even more screwed up than I thought)
You haven't been following mobile phone stories on Slashdot much, have you? For years, you paid the same price for monthly service whether you got a subsidized phone from the carrier, had completed the two-year contract, or didn't get a phone from the carrier at all and brought your own. T-Mobile changed that about 5 years ago, when they started offering a plan that was $20/month cheaper if you didn't have a contract and subsidized phone. Now that T-Mobile is advertising this more, the other carriers are ju
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Ok, so the USA phone market is even more screwed up that I thought. Can't say I'm surprised...
"Under the Apple Hype Machine"? (Score:4, Insightful)
Under the Apple Hype Machine
Perhaps I'm being super-dense, but... what's that supposed to even mean?
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Today is the day.
http://www.apple.com/live/2014... [apple.com]
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Under the Apple Hype Machine
Perhaps I'm being super-dense, but... what's that supposed to even mean?
They like Apple Sauce, Perhaps?
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Even the BBC has been anticipating what Apple is going to release today. Chances are out so just be a larger iPhone and a watch, nothing particularly exciting or new, but journalists are wetting their pants over it anyway.
Fortunately consumers seem to be less effected now. Eventually the press will get the message too.
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Yeah, got that and am practically comatose with anticipation. But what is does it mean to be under a hype machine?
What was Amazon thinking? (Score:4, Interesting)
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what Amazon was thinking when they released the thing. While on a "raw spec" basis, it's not a bad phone, it's headline feature does little more (at the moment) than make it easier to buy stuff from Amazon. Why would anybody buy this phone over a similarly-priced phone from Samsung/Moto/LG?
If the phone was significantly cheaper than the competition (like the Kindle Fire), or if the tight Amazon integration was a super-useful feature (like the Kindle Readers), it might have been a success. But charging the same as the competition for a phone running a custom OS? I expected it to be about as successful as the "Facebook Phone", which is to say "not at all".
This sort of completely blind hubris reminds me of the Netflix fiasco. Anybody with more than a few brain cells to rub together should have been able to see the flaws here...
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I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what Amazon was thinking when they released the thing.
No shit. As far as I could tell, the selling point of the phone was: "It shows you lots of ads!" Who the fuck would want a phone like that?
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You do know that the "custom OS" is really Android both on their tablets AND their phones. They just took the Google branding out of it and rolled their own interface layer. Sorta like CentOS does to Red Hat Enterprise, only under the Apache license.
I'm guessing that they will continue to keep the "Fire OS" close to Android, but they are free to deviate if they want.
It's more than a skin... (Score:2)
Yes, I know that Fire OS is based on Android. But it is different enough that you cannot assume that an Android app will work on Fire OS, and Fire OS devices do not have the Google Play store, so if an app is only available there, you are SOL. This is not a trivial limitation; you are missing out on some apps like, say, GMail.
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Yeah, but who uses Gmail, or Google Maps, or Google Now anyway?
Oh, that's right - probably 99% of Android users. I'll buy that Gmail is a bit less ubiquitous, but the other two are practically platform-defining. My wife can't stand the idea of owning a smartphone but even she gets envious when she hears my phone give lane advisories during navigation.
Where it should have started (Score:2)
The initial price was that of a super-premium phone, which it wasn't. Amazon has never been about making money on hardware, but about eyeballs. This cash grab was unfounded. They lost the chance to make it as easy as "sign up and get your free phone, supported by the Amazon ecosystem". Now it's just an also-ran.
Apple? Let the hate roll on... (Score:2)
I don't see where this has anything to do with Apple other than an opportunity to pour on a little hate. Amazon's offering did not inspire people to stand in line to buy it. That has nothing to do with what Apple may or may not do.
It's not the Phone, it's the Carrier! (Score:4, Interesting)
AMZN already has "free" 3G via WhisperNet for Kindle; why can't they just act as a reseller for air/data time?
What I thought should happen when AMZN announced a phone was that you would buy it for a nominal amount, and your AMZN purchases would generate airtime credits:
Buy something, get a percentage of the purchase price converted to minutes/megabytes. Of course, you could always 'buy' more mins/megs, but if you're trying to drive consumption of your other products, it seems straightforward to make the means to do so a reward for the behavior you want.
If you have to give away your product... (Score:2)
Apple live event page bug? (Score:2)
http://www.apple.com/live/2014... [apple.com]
Anyone else seeing "10:49 a.m., 10 a.m. can’t come soon enough." and 10:47 a.m., Looking forward to a great day in Cupertino! Join us at 10am Pacific. #AppleLive"?
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Apple has always had a little bit of trouble [lmgtfy.com] with time zones, DST and the like....
Phire Phone (Score:2)
I'd have so bought it if....
a) Expandable Memory Card
[Yes gimmick sold me on it.]
b) Replaceable battery
c) Front facing speakers (ala M8, which I'd have bought if it had a replaceable battery)
No savings at all (Score:2)
The phone isn't being given away for free or even cheap. If you go with the phone cost .99 and a 2 year contract, you pay $60 for the 300 minutes contract monthly.
If you go with no down payment and $18 a month for the phone, you can get that 300 minutes plan for $45. $3 difference.
Still paying for the phone with the 2 year contract, pretty much the same amount as if you subsidized it.
really a price cut? (Score:2)
I breezed through TFA, and it wasn't clear to me whether it's truly a price cut or that they're merely rolling more of the cost of the phone into the monthly payments. Assuming a $450 price tag, $200 with contract tells me they probably get another $250 over the life of the contract. So, at $1, does that mean they still get $250 over the life of the contract, or $449? If the latter, it's not a deal, it's just different bookkeeping.
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For a buck, I'd buy it. Hell, I'd buy it for $20 or $30, even though it's within the confines of Amazon. It's not like the entire phone is going to be locked down to just Amazon. You'd surely still have a browser and apps to do various things outside of Amazon. And probably wifi service if you wanted to connect it to your home network or something.
It's the phone contract that does it in for me. In an age where I can use Ting as my phone service for an average of $12/mo with no contract, why in the hell woul
Re:So they cut it from $199 to $600. I see. (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, as a cynical, tin-foil hat wearing individual I'll say that anything you do can and will be monitored and tracked by Amazon for their own purposes, even when not directly using their products.
So, really, are you actually any better off?
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It's the phone contract that does it in for me. In an age where I can use Ting as my phone service for an average of $12/mo with no contract, why in the hell would I want to get a two year expensive contract with one of the old phone companies?!
Agreed...Switched to Ting [ting.com] two years ago and haven't regretted it once. I'm saving $100 mo. over my previous carrier for the same two lines and I haven't had to change my usage.
I was curious of Amazon's decision to make the phone an AT&T exclusive. Hopefully for Amazon's sake the exclusionary period was only six months
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For a buck, I'd buy it. Hell, I'd buy it for $20 or $30, even though it's within the confines of Amazon. [..] It's the phone contract that does it in for me.
That's the whole blooming point, though! You're only being offered the phone for 99 cents *because* you have to agree to the contract.
It's like a shop had a "Buy 1, Get the Second for 1 cent" offer on horribly overpriced multivitamins, you wouldn't say "well, they're not even worth half the regular price, but I might have snapped them up for 1 cent if they didn't require you to buy the other at full price"!
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So basically they made it a subsidized phone with the extra $25/month charge to have it on your AT&T plan. Over the 24 month contract that's $600.
Oh, stop punching numbers into that calculator, reading the fine print and just sign the contract you rube.
AT&T (and all of the major carriers) do this kind of thing all the time. Car dealers do this, credit card companies do this, realtors do this all kinds of retailers do this.. They turn things into monthly payments, rip you a new one while you pay an arm and a leg. They bleed you dry one drop at a time and most of us don't notice how we've been played. We just complain that everything costs so m
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We know it's you, John.
Signed, Amazon.com
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Dang, even if you buy it outright it is LOCKED to the AT&T network. Amazon has got to undo that mess or I'm NOT EVER going to think about it.
Any phone you buy outright should come UNLOCKED by default. Any phone you own after the contract is over should be unlocked upon request, if not automatically by the carrier...