E-commerce giant Amazon is expected to release its earnings on July 24, 2014, with many enthusiasts waiting to hear whether Fire Phone is actually selling.
The company is rumored as likely to realize a loss for the second quarter of this year partly because of its recent investment in novel hardware devices such as the Fire TV streaming device and smartphone.
Although Fire Phone has obtained a lot of media buzz, Amazon will most probably keep mum about the device’s pre-order sales. However, that does not imply those closely observing the company’s earnings will not inquire about the phone’s performance so far.
Aaron Peterson, a senior associate with marketing company Millward Brown Digital, stated: “there will be some attention on how well the phone will perform. Amazon continues to branch out to each of these side-niche products meaning they are pushing out these things to test the waters.”
“Fire Phone isn’t the next iPhone and it cannot just come in and take over the industry. I believe people will not flock to it,” added Peterson.
Amazon views the Fire Phone, which is the latest item on a developing list of hardware for the company, as a means of driving consumers back to its prime services to order more goods online. However, e-retailers enthusiasts are still uncertain as to whether these products will finally benefit the company’s bottom line.
There are mixed reactions to the phone, which contains flashy features such as Firefly image, 3D imaging and audio-recognition capabilities. Its Firefly feature, which identifies products automatically, makes it easy for users to shop for media content and physical items via phone.
However, according to IDCs research director for mobile devices, Ryan Reith, the device is quite expensive to cause a paradigm shift in the smartphone market in the same manner as the Kindle Fire. Further, when Amazon joined the tablet market, the devices were still fresh to users, though customers have began to realize that they have other alternatives among cheaper tablets.
From CNETs Jessica Dolcourt review, the 3D visuals, Amazon shopping integration and operating system design are pleasant, though the phone does not stand out among other similarly priced Android phones. Fire Phone lacks fundamental Google services. It also provides a more limited app store.
“Anyway, it is quite early to say how the Fire Phone is doing. More dependable estimates of the phone’s sales will not be anticipated for at least several weeks,” added Reith.