The Amazon Fire Phone was recently announced, and is set to start shipping out on July 25th. While that is not that long to wait for the device, people may be wondering when they can purchase the device with a cut price or a deal. The folks over at DealNews have put together some research that may just tell us when the Fire Phone will be discounted and what deals we might see with the device.
It’s no secret that Amazon is an online store where customers can purchase just about anything they want or need. They made it simple to purchase things with just one click online, and even launched same day shipping for Amazon Prime users. So it should also come as no surprise that Amazon’s smartphone is aimed to make purchasing things through their website even easier. Simply use the camera to scan an object and you can get directed to the item’s purchase page on Amazon’s website. This is where Amazon is surely going to make most of their profits from the sale of the Fire Phone. In fact, analysts say that Amazon could make $2 billion in e-commerce sales thanks to the Fire Phone. Those same analysts suggest that users of the Fire Phone will be making more Amazon purchases than the average Amazon shopper due to the ease of purchase through the device, as well as the free Amazon Prime membership that comes with it. The Fire Phone will be exclusive to AT&T with a starting price of $199 on contract and $649 off contract price. With an off contract price that is equal to other high end and more popular devices, consumers are surely waiting to see when the device will go on sale.
The Fire Phone is the first generation of smartphones coming from Amazon, and as such has a lot of catching up to do. The Android smartphone market currently belongs to Samsung, which usually sees a 50% drop in price within the first two months as special pricing. The Samsung Galaxy S5 went on sale at half the launching price and according to reports, may hit $0 before Black Friday 2014. This shows the competitiveness in the smartphone market and with Amazon just now entering the market, they will need to change things up a bit. When Amazon released their first Kindle e-reader they waited almost seven months to offer a special price. At the rate smartphones go on sale or start offering deals, Amazon will likely consider changing their attack plan on the market. If Amazon decides that special pricing on the Fire Phone itself isn’t the best way to go, they may decide to start off by offering bundle deals.
Bundled discounts is where Amazon tends to turn for their first generation products. When Amazon released their Fire TV set top box to the public it only took one month for them to offer a bundle deal. They bundled the Fire TV with a Kindle Fire HDX Tablet and cut the total price by 24%. According to the research, it’s more likely that we will see a deal with the Fire Phone bundled with Fire TV at a set percentage cut off the total price. There is of course some ideas that Amazon may take a completely different approach, offering almost an instant rebate of sorts that reward customers with Amazon Coins. Amazon Coins are essentially an online currency that can be used on Amazon’s website to purchase items. Amazon Coins translate into a dollar amount at a rate of 1,000 Amazon Coins for every $10. That said, to offer a deal that is worthy of the price of the Fire Phone, Amazon will need to offer at least $20 worth of Amazon Coins with the purchase of the device. They could offer more which would translate into a better rebate of the price of the Fire Phone, and the bundle deals could just be the beginning as we inch closer to the holiday season.
Since the Fire Phone is going to be offered by AT&T, it’s more likely that we will see dollar discounts offered through them. AT&T is very comfortable offering deals on devices, especially during the holiday season. They have seen the aforementioned 50% drop in price of devices like Samsung. Thus, they will be more keen on the market layout of discount timing. So while Amazon may be offering only bundled deals, or Amazon Coin rebates, AT&T may be offering different types of discounts. AT&T may exclusively offer the Fire Phone at launch, but the Fire Phone isn’t the only device on the market, and so AT&T will need to compete with T-Mobile offerings. T-Mobile is never afraid to offer a drastic discount on a device or plan and AT&T is well aware of that. All things considered, Amazon will be making a good amount of money on the Fire Phone if it’s well received by consumers. Though they will be making more money off sales elsewhere made easier by the device. So it will be no surprise if Amazon offers the Fire Phone at a price below production costs-as they’ve done in the past. What are your thoughts so far? Will you be jumping on the Amazon Fire Phone immediately, or will you be waiting for some deals?