Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Amazon unveils phone with product recognition feature

SEATTLE — Amazon has unveiled a device that tries to fulfil the retailer’s dream of being integrated into consumers’ lives at every possible waking moment — whether they are deciding where to eat, realising they need more toilet paper or intrigued by a snatch of overheard music.

SEATTLE — Amazon has unveiled a device that tries to fulfil the retailer’s dream of being integrated into consumers’ lives at every possible waking moment — whether they are deciding where to eat, realising they need more toilet paper or intrigued by a snatch of overheard music.

The device is a mobile phone, but making calls on it received almost no attention at all at the launch event in Seattle on Wednesday. The Fire phone, the product of four years of research and development, offers Amazon fans the chance to live in an Amazon-themed world, where just about every element can be identified, listed, ranked, shared and, of course, ordered.

If the device works as described and Amazon entices even a small portion of its 250 million active customers to buy one, the Fire could accelerate Amazon’s already intense competition with other retailers and tech firms.

The Fire’s product recognition feature, Firefly, could be a real threat to brick-and-mortar retailers, said Ms Rebecca Lieb, an analyst with the Altimeter Group. “Scan a product or listen to music and you’re delivered straight to the page on Amazon on which you can purchase it. Impulse shopping just went to a new level.”

Amazon’s phone is arriving as the leading tech companies are increasingly trying to develop an array of services and products to keep consumers from wandering — the digital equivalent of Disney not wanting you to leave Disneyland for lunch. Microsoft brought out a tablet, Facebook tried a phone and Google is experimenting with a shopping and delivery service.

Mr Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, touted Firefly heavily as well as something Amazon calls Dynamic Perspective. Cameras on the phone allow the user to gain another view of a video game or see layered information on a map, such as a Yelp review. Whether Dynamic Perspective is a gimmick or something more will depend on how aggressively developers invent new apps for it.

“This is the next big battleground in the ecosystem war,” said Mr Ben Schachter, an analyst with Macquarie. “Amazon is not going to turn the tide decisively in its favour with this, but just needs to establish a beachhead.”

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.