It was suspected and now it’s official: the Amazon Fire Phone is a flop.
During the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday, Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak put it in perspective by primarily attributing a $170 million loss “to the Fire phone inventory evaluation and supplier commitment cost,” according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. Fire Phone failure helped contribute to a big $544 million operating loss on the quarter, up substantially from a $25 million loss in the year-ago quarter.
Amazon this summer announced its first smartphone and made it a $199 exclusive at AT&T. Shortly after launch the cost of the Fire Phone dipped to $0.99 with a two-year contract.
Slow adoption for Amazon’s new device has been partly blamed on its AT&T exclusivity and its pricing on par with other more popular top-tier smartphones.
On a separate earnings call, Szkutak called the Fire Phone a “good device in a very competitive market,” according to a Recode report.
The Fire Phone gathered hype based on its 3D display, dubbed “dynamic perspective,” and its Firefly button able to identify music, movies and everyday items and then direct users to a product page on Amazon.
Filed Under: Carriers
