Amazon Fire smartphone soon to be launched in Europe

[Johnny]

Despite mixed sales after its launch in the United States, the Amazon Fire Phone will tackle some European markets from this month.

The Fire Phone is Amazon's first smartphone from experience in mobile products acquired with the Kindle e-readers and especially the Kindle Fire tablet. Like the latter, it uses a platform derived from Fire OS of Android but with Amazon instead of the usual Google mobile services.

To differentiate the large number of smartphones on the market, the Fire Phone is illustrated by an interface using four IR modules to provide a sense of depth to the display and oversight of the interface by gestures.

The smartphone also has a Firefly feature of automatic search using an automatic recognition of text and an image when a button is activated.

And if it does not have a very aggressive price, it aims heavy users of Amazon services by offering a year subscription to Amazon Prime Service and fast delivery streaming multimedia content.

Despite the originality of the tender, the Fire Phone, however, didnt had a very good start in its first market, the United States. Amazon did not say anything as usual volumes of its products but the indirect evidence is not in favor of an extraordinary start.

So much so that observers expected that the smartphone market experience remains purely for North American. The Financial Times, however, indicates that Amazon will launch its Fire Phone in the new markets of Europe.

Starting this month of September 2014, the Fire Phone could be introduced in the UK (via operator O2) and Germany (Deutsche Telekom), both receptive markets for high-end smartphones, with a phase of pre-commands followed by marketing on September 30th.

The price of the smartphone is not known but it should be offered at O2 for free with the purchase of a package worth at least £33/month (41€/month), less onerous conditions than for most prominent smartphones like the iPhone.

In Germany, the Fire Phone will be available for 1€ with high-end subscriptions starting at €149.95 per month, reports the business daily.

[5niper]

I haven't had a chance to try this phone myself yet but it looks like an interesting competitor to what's out there. The only thing I don't like is that Amazon has a closed marketplace.