Jeff Bezos likes to take big shots. That means big hits and big misses.
The Fire Phone, at least so far, is a big, big miss.
[seealso slug=http://sale-online.click/2014/07/22/amazon-fire-phone-review/%5D%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EAmazon announced that it has taken a $170 million write down on its Fire phone. The news came in the midst of the company's disappointing fiscal year fourth-quarter earnings. Amazon shares fell 11% in after-hour trading.
Yeah, sounds like a $170 million write down for Amazon Fire phone: “inventory evaluations and supplier commitment costs,” CFO says $AMZN— Aaron Pressman (@ampressman) October 23, 2014
The Fire was an ambitious entry into the smartphone market. Priced at that same level as established competitors like Apple's iPhone, Amazon's entry suffered from generally negative reviews.
There had been indications that Amazon had struggled to generate much demand for the phone, dropping the price to $0.99 with a contract.
It's not over yet, either. Amazon announced it still has plenty of phones sitting around.
At the end of Q3, Amazon had approximately $83 million in Fire phone inventory on hand :x— Jillian D'Onfro (@jillianiles) October 23, 2014
As the news broke, T-Mobile CEO John Legere couldn't resist having a little fun about it on Twitter.
@Recode @inafried @DelRey oops— John Legere (@JohnLegere) October 23, 2014