Amazon Planning to Take on Apple in Smartphone Market

[SpectatorHere]

How does the affect the iPhone?

Most seem to agree that Amazon could easily do a phone with their "not really Android" Android OS on top. And, this is made possible by how cheap and available all these great phones are. So, where does this leave iPhone?

Used to be iPhone was superior in every way to everything else out there. (I know, especially here I'll get people saying it still is, but hear me out.) I think most people see the iPhone now as a really well built phone with a small screen and a great OS. The hardware though, I think most people are visual and look at the vibrant huge AMOLED screens on the newer HTC's, Samsung, et al., they see the LTE, and I think most non-tech people see the iPhone as dated (and fragile!)

That probably will change in the fall with the new model coming out, but assuming it doesn't have the biggest screen, and given that it won't be updated at the rapid pace of the Android phones...where does this leave the iPhone?

Can it still keep people buying it as those Android phones get even cheaper and the OS more polished? Ultimately, Amazon phone or not, how does this all impact the iPhone?

 

[KnightWRX]

OMG you can't be serious.
It requires apps to be loaded from... wait for it... the Amazon Appstore for Android.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=200729570

Yes... they even describe the Fire as an Android device in the developer comments.


A little note to Kindle Fire users as well.

In other words, developers can make an app that only works on the Fire by simply requiring "ro.product.device=blaze" be present in the build.prop before the app will install.
Same crap other vendors do when they want to lock an app to their specific device.

I'm sorry, I don't see anywhere in those notes where they refer to Amazon's Kindle Fire as an Android devices. I see reference to other devices that run Android.

Again, that's something they have to adhere to in order to respect the OHA's rules on the use of the Android Trademark, since they are not an official Android device, even though the run the same code base.

why is that so hard to accept ? BTW, the Amazon App Store is not exclusive to Kindle Fire. They do sell applications for both the Kindle Fire and other Android devices. The store was there before there was a Kindle Fire.

I can't understand what is so hard to understand here. Android is a trademark, first and foremost. See my Firefox - IceWeasel example.

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IIRC Linux is GNU with the Linux kernel. And GNU actually stands for GNUs Not Unix.

Linux based distributions are GNU. Linux itself is not a GNU project. Their OS kernel is called HURD.

 

[qtx43]

It's only a myth to people who subscribe to Barry's philosophy. Personally, I don't buy it, I like choice.

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Unfortunately for you, he's using it correctly, you're not or do not understand what Linux and Mac OS X are and their histories and components unfortunately.

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Read my later posts on the subject. Linux originally didn't have any support for POSIX. API support != spinoff.

First, what part of Unix do you refer to that OS X or Linux was spun off from ? The copyrighted AT&T codebase ? The SUS specification ? The UNIX trademark owned and controlled by the Open Group ?

There seems to be a lot about UNIX you just don't grasp to make such a simple and misguided claim.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html

...system calls capable of supporting POSIX.1. ...

Since you mention POSIX. Not that that is the only reason. Something he would 'love to have', he did support bash and was clearly thinking about unix and developing on minix. Oh well, I'm sure I'm not changing you mind. I did initially think the original had some posix support.

 

[gnasher729]

Amazon lacks that kind of panache needed to make waves. I can buy stuff from the Amazon store on any device. Why would I need or benefit from buying my phone through Amazon?

Remember when Apple started the iPhone, they were aiming at one percent of the phone market. Maybe Amazon is aiming at one percent of the phone market as well. That should create a decent amount of money for them if they do it in a clever way. And I don't think they are planning on "Taking on Apple" at all. What they want to do is convince a few iPhone users, a few Samsung users, lots of RIM users, lots of Nokia users, to buy an Amazon phone instead.

 

[NeXT MacRumors]

YouTube: video

Awesome video! Thank you for sharing that

 

[KnightWRX]

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/linux.history.html



Since you mention POSIX. Not that that is the only reason.

Hum, did you read that quote ?

As to POSIX,
I'd be delighted to have it, but posix wants money for their papers, so
that's not currently an option.

Linux 0.01 did not support POSIX. Thus, Linux existed prior to any POSIX support. And again, Linux' POSIX implementation (not spin off) is not official and doesn't respect the spec 100%, nor could it pass the SUS.

Again I ask, what do you feel Linux spunoff from Unix ? What part of Unix did Linus use to start his project (again, one he wrote from scratch, using Minix for inspiration if not for code).

Answer the question, I already quoted and posted the USENET posts earlier. You can't use the same evidence I did to say the opposite of what it says.

 

[jokerz126]

as soon as Amazon buys Nokia and Rim...then it's "GAME ON"!

 

[SpectatorHere]

as soon as Amazon buys Nokia and Rim...then it's "GAME ON"!

God RIM... just mentioning that company is sad.

But, seriously, Amazon isn't about to buy any company, they'll just license the hardware. That's seriously what they did with the Fire...it's a BB Playbook. They just paid the people who built the playbook to change a couple things and plopped down their version of android on top. They'll do the same thing with a phone if they can make some money off of it. It won't be an iPhone killer or anything really except another cheap hardware platform to point people to their content.

I think it's real likely to happen as prices drop on all these quality Android phones. And don't tell me they're all crap, they've had to innovate and compete with the technology to try to keep up with Apple.

 

[bryanescuela]

Re:

You mean... "one that would compete head(iPhone)-to-toe(Amazon Phone)"

 

[aced411]

...... yay ....not

 

[phr0ze]

They are simply making an android phone with core features just like the Fire. The price will be incredible compared to other phones, again just like the Fire.

If won't attract me away as I'm a fanboi now. But I could see it attracting people who can't afford the iphone.

 

[rendevouspoo]

they've had to innovate and compete with the technology to try to keep up with Apple.

With the new Nexus and SSG3, one could say that they aren't trying to keep up anymore. The tables are quickly turning.

 

[rmwebs]

It has to be a viable alternative in order to be considered healthy competition
That remains to be seen

Without companies like Amazon trying there will NEVER be a viable alternative. I'd rather see Amazon release a low-popularity device than no device at all. There are lessons that can be learnt from anything that is released.

 

[Lindenhurst]

Just what we need, more android fragmentation.

Actually what it is is more choices! The fragmentation phrase is getting old.

 

[Xtremehkr]

This will be competition for Google, unless Amazon plans on using its own OS. I doubt Amazon will be competing in the high end zone that the iPhone dominates.

The FaceBook phone is coming out later this year as well, supposedly, I can't see what advantages a website specific phone could really offer other than as an accessory. Will the Facebook phone get its own version of the FB app that actually works decently?

If Microsoft releases an integrated Windows 8 phone on their own hardware it could be a pretty formidable challenger to the iPhone. If Microsoft decides to really put some effort into it.

I just hope the Amazon phone doesn't look as bad as the Amazon website does. A cluttered mess of information and junk.

 

[BC2009]

Amazon should stick to two things on the consumer side: eBooks and selling other people's stuff.

Exactly! I don't know what Bezos thinks he can bring to the smartphone market. In a matter of six months, the Nexus 7 has made his Kindle Fire obsolete by a wide margin. The reviews on the two products are like night and day. The cost of smartphones is irrelevant -- they are already free. The cost of data is what matters. Unless Bezos is planning to start his own cellular data provider and give away free data with an Amazon Prime subscription, I don't see what Amazon could probably do that would be interesting. Amazon should focus on apps to promote their stuff -- it seems like everybody is a "me too" when it comes to things Apple is doing.

 

[MCP-511]

Why don't they focus on what they originally did well, online sales. I like shopping amazon, the free shipping is nice, but the search results anymore yields far to many duplicate entries with different prices and quite a few say "not available". Someone needs to clean the mess up.

A portfolio of patents would just ultimately lead to more law suits.

 

[lilo777]

Samsung being a leader of smart phone market

Bloomberg article should have been called " Amazon Planning to Take on Samsung in Smartphone Market". It's not clear why they chose to use Apple.

 

[samcraig]

Bloomberg article should have been called " Amazon Planning to Take on Samsung in Smartphone Market". It's not clear why they chose to use Apple.

Bad headline. 1st paragraph is more accurate

"Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is developing a smartphone that would vie with Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and handheld devices that run Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system, two people with knowledge of the matter said."

Meaning - they are going to develop a phone that will be a new competitor to iOS and Android phones.

In other words- they aren't trying to supplant either. They are just coming out with a phone that will be another option. Interesting that Bloomberg's article didn't mention Windows...

 

[Xtremehkr]

Bloomberg article should have been called " Amazon Planning to Take on Samsung in Smartphone Market". It's not clear why they chose to use Apple.

I think leadership is better defined by share of profits in the market, by which Apple completely dominates Samsung. From a corporate perspective it's little consolation to sell the highest number of units when Apple is taking over 70% of the profit in the segment.

 

[rendevouspoo]

in the high end zone that the iPhone dominates.

Lol.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Awesome video! Thank you for sharing that

Professor Schwartz makes some good points. I also like choice but sometimes I do find myself paralyzed by the options. I've had "Analysis Paralysis" more than a few times bringing things to a halt.

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Bloomberg article should have been called " Amazon Planning to Take on Samsung in Smartphone Market". It's not clear why they chose to use Apple.

Because that's where the mindshare is

 

[samcraig]

Because that's where the mindshare is

I'm not sure "NEWS" stories should take mindshare into account over accuracy.

 

[Xtremehkr]

Lol.

Though it holds only around 9 percent of the global mobile phone market, Apple raked in 75 percent of all profits across the industry last quarter, according to Asymco analyst Horace Dediu.

75% of industry profits would make it a dominant high end phone.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-5...ks-up-75-percent-of-all-mobile-phone-profits/

Graphically. Would you rather be in Samsung's position as a market leader in the number of units sold, or Apple's position as the dominant profit maker?

 

[Medic311]

how much for 1 rib?