Amazon has again slashed the price of its Fire Phone amid reports of struggling sales and poor user feedback since the device’s July launch.
The Fire Phone was intended to signal the e-commerce giant’s entrance into the smartphone market but it has not proven to be a hit, with users concerned by the hardware running hot and disappointed with the small selection of apps.
It now appears as though Amazon is attempting to amend the situation with a new aggressive pricing strategy. As pointed out by GeekWire, the Fire Phone will now set consumers back US$199 unlocked – considerably less than its US$649 debut price.
This latest reduction follows a September price cut, which saw the phone’s price fall to US$449 unlocked.
Last month, Amazon’s senior vice-president of devices David Limp admitted the company failed to correctly price the phone. His comments came as Fortune revealed a surplus of US$83m worth of unsold units were being stored. Moving away from its usual tactic of undercutting the competition on hardware, the company’s pricing was in line with US norms.
“We didn’t get the price right,” said Limp. “I think people come to expect a great value, and we sort of mismatched expectations. We thought we had it right. But we’re also willing to say, ‘we missed’. And so we corrected.”
“When you’re taking risks, they’re not all going to pay off,” he added. “Those are the facts.”
Amazon image via Shutterstock
