Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has admitted that the Fire Phone wasn’t a success. However, he says that he has no regrets about the device. Bezos called the phone a “smart failure” and said that “many iterations” may be needed to get it right. He is quoted by NBC as saying “People love to focus on things that aren’t working. That’s fine, but it’s incredibly hard to get people to take bold bets. And if you push people to take bold bets, there will be experiments… that don’t work”.
He says that whilst a number of Amazon’s high-profile risks such as their web services and Prime media platform have been successful, the Fire Phone was a flop – although he did say it was innovative. The company has written off $170 of unsold Fire Phone units but says it will continue to provide software updates for people that did buy the device. The failure of the device was reflected in its net losses of $437 million in its latest quarterly results.
Did you buy a Fire Phone? Were you happy with it or do you feel that it was a disappointment? Tell us about your experiences with the device below.
