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Originally Posted by Jeff Bezos
Kindle Fire is a service. What does it mean for a hardware device to be a service? It greets you by name. It has the lowest prices on content, it keeps your place for you, it keeps all of your content in the Amazon cloud, backed up, worry-free. Hardware is a critical part of the service, absolutely essential...We do not like the razor and razor blade model, where you lose money up front and then somehow make it up on the backend. We also do not like the other model, where you make a lot of money on the device, because it doesn’t follow our approach...We want to make money when our customers use our devices, not when they buy our devices...We don’t need you to be on the upgrade treadmill. We’re happy that people are still using Kindle 1’s that are five years old.
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A lot of people are trying to decide if the Fire is an iPad killer or a Nexus killer. Many are speculating as to how long Amazon will impress as a platform. None of that matters. Amazon makes money when you buy a Nexus or an iPad or a Transformer -- as long as you buy it on Amazon.com.
People are wondering if Amazon video will be offered on other tablets and phones. It will. Amazon makes money when people subscribe to Prime because they buy more stuff.
The only ones who will keep Amazon services off a platform are the platform's owners. They won't. Not offering Amazon services will put their product at a disadvantage.
So, what about all those Amazon Kindles? They create purchase opportunities. I expect that my new Fire's front facing camera and inexpensive 4G will work together to let me know when the item I'm thinking about buying is less expensive through Amazon. That I'll get it in two days with free shipping if I am a Prime subscriber and that I can subscribe to Prime immediately by pressing a button. Oh, and that there are some really good movies on Prime. If you have an EV, you'll be glad to know that Amazon can ship that 80" Sanyo to your home for free! When Amazon opens a Retail Store in your area, the new TV may be waiting by the time you get home from Best Buy.
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Originally Posted by Jeff Bezos
We will certainly — not any time soon — but next year. We have some more things that we hope people will enjoy. It’s premature
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I think Amazon will put their services on a lot more devices. Would you pay $50 per year if your GPS could tell you where to get the item you are shopping for at the best price? Offer a coupon? Send it to your phone? Where to get the cheapest gas? What restaurants serve what you like? Pull up a menu? Read it to you? Make reservations for you? Order takeout? Stream audio books? Read text books? Tune in the football game you are a little late for?
How about a little Amazon TV? See something you like in a commercial and press the 'buy' button on your remote for prices and offers? Finish the audio book you almost finished on your commute? Watch the movie? Offer to resume a movie you were watching when you turn on a tv in another room?
I think this kind of 'service' is the next rung in the evolution of information systems and that Amazon is working hard to bring it to us. I can't wait!