Key Points
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So, what initially made Fire Phone a contender? Who was it popular with? What were its specs and product history? We’ll deep dive into these details. Hopefully, you’ll finally grasp why exactly the Fire Phone failed.
The Significance of the Fire Phone
Released in June of 2014, the Fire Phone boasted features that couldn’t be found on its rivals The most impressive was its so-called Dynamic Perspective. The 3D display used four front-facing cameras and a gyroscope to adjust the user interface as the device was moved, creating the illusion of three-dimensional depth.
Fire Phone’s Reception From Critics
While the Fire tablet enjoyed initial success, the Fire Phone was met with very mixed reviews. Critics took issue with its high price, lackluster OS, unimpressive specs, and exclusivity to AT&T.
Whatever praise Fire Phone had garnered because of its 3D display and Firefly feature was quickly overshadowed by the stinging reviews. Beyond its technological capabilities, some had problems with the physicality of the device itself. It felt cheap and came with a pair of earbuds that couldn’t match up iPhone’s. What’s more, its battery couldn’t even last an entire day.
Fire Phone Specs
Fire Phone: The Complete History
As the Kindle Fire tablet continued to rake in the dough, developers tirelessly worked behind the scenes to bring the Fire Phone to life. According to reports, Bezos took a remarkable hands-on approach to the phone’s development. He reportedly wanted every decision, no matter how big or small, to be run by his desk to ensure every last component was flawless.
Early Signs of Imminent Failure
It didn’t take long for Jeff Bezos’s somewhat ridiculous ideas to frustrate developers. Bezos was asking for features that just weren’t possible at the time. He wanted payments to be contactless. Bezos pushed for interactions to be hands-free. He even requested for users to be able to navigate throughout the phone with gestures in mid-air.
Arguably most absurd was Bezos’s request for the device to respond to different pressures and grips applied to the physical body of the phone itself. If there was this much trouble during the phone’s development, what would it take for the phone to make it to market?
Numbers were even worse in AT&T stores where the phone was exclusively sold. Stores spoke of little to no sales nationwide, with people being more curious about the device than anything. Curiosity doesn’t translate to sales, though, especially when those customers turned around and bought one of the Fire Phone’s direct competitors like the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy.
The Eventual Demise of the Fire Phone
While the Fire tablet never stopped bringing in impressive numbers year after year, it only took the Fire Phone a matter of days to become an utter failure. Judging by ad impression in the weeks that followed its 2014 release, estimates put the phone’s market share at a tragic 0.02%. This meager percentage translates to less than 35,000 phones sold.
Why Fire Phone Failed
In hindsight, it makes plenty of sense: the iPad continues to sell better than the Kindle Fire ever has. This translates directly to the sales of the iPhone compared to the Fire Phone. The Fire tablet has always been labeled a step down from the iPad. Of course, the Fire Phone would be just as big of a step down from the iPhone.
Perhaps there could have been a reality where the Fire Phone soared like Bezos hoped it would. If the company had put less work into bells and whistles like Dynamic Perspective and Firefly and more work into the features that took advantage of the iPhone’s weaker aspects, it might have been a major success.
Why Did iPhone Succeed?
There’s no denying the Fire Phone failed spectacularly. But why did this happen when it simply tried to follow in the successful footsteps of the iPhone? The difference is this: the iPhone isn’t just a cheap, flashy device that uses the Apple name to try and make a quick buck. The iPhone is innovative, and it never sacrifices that innovation for anything. It’s a priority.
This is not to suggest that the Fire Phone was not trying to be innovative. Dynamic Perspective, Firefly, and X-Ray are not found on any other smartphone. These features, while certainly unique, don’t really have a point in the grand scheme of things. They don’t help users in any practical way. At the end of the day, a good phone is fast, functional, and technologically advanced.
While the Fire Phone had advanced features, speed and functionality are far more impressive. The iPhone has it all, plus a seamless user experience for calling, texting, emailing, and apps to boot. This is why the iPhone has been so successful in the long run. True, it has cool features, but it also has the speed and the capabilities it needs to win out above the competition.
