Amazon has done surprisingly well for itself in the Android game. They hold second place for Android web usage traffic in North America at 8.2 %, second only to Samsung of course who holds a whopping 55% of web usage traffic in North America for all Android devices. What’s interesting is that Amazon has been able to do all of this while still only offering three different Android devices, the original Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Fire HDX. At this point in time they have no smartphone on the market, although there is talk that a fabled Amazon smartphone could be on it’s way to market sometime soon. In spite of that, they were able to slide by other OEMs who have offer both smartphones and tablets, reaching more percentage of Android web usage traffic then the likes of LG and Motorola, HTC, Sony and others.
Lets say for a second that Amazon does release an Amazon smartphone soon, and they price it reasonably low like they have done with their Kindle Fire tablets, they certainly stand to increase Android web usage traffic to an even higher percentage and potentially hold the number two spot for Android web usage traffic in North America again next year. That is of course considering that they release the phone, and release it soon. We also have to factor in that LG was basically tied with Amazon on the web usage traffic statistics also grabbing up 8.2% of all North American Android web usage traffic. If LG increases its numbers in device sales, then they could inch past Amazon with a little effort. If all things go as they have been though over the last year, Amazon does stand a good chance of staying above other OEMs besides Samsung.
Amazon’s strategy to keep things on their tablets fairly closed loop has been working for them. Since Amazon devices are limited to offering paid content through Amazon when it comes to videos, music, apps, games and books, people who spend money on that kind of content are just putting their money back into Amazon. They have turned these profits around to work for them and continue to offer devices at an even lower cost than most other OEMs. Amazon’s big win comes from the control of its content. Purchasing things on an Amazon device is limited to amazon when it comes to paid streaming content services, and other forms of online shopping are heavily influenced by Amazons online retail store. Since people are poised to spend any money they set aside for online shopping with Amazon themselves, Amazon can afford to further lower the costs of devices it produces and gain even more subscribers. This continued trend with an Amazon smartphone would most likely only improve their standings.