The big picture: Amazon has found success in most everything it has done lately but such wasn't the case in 2014 when it tested the smartphone waters for the first time. With a truly differentiating idea, however, some company executives believe a second try could be worth pursuing.
Amazon isn’t believed to be currently working on a smartphone but the company apparently isn’t ruling out the possibility of returning to the playing field despite its first attempt being a colossal failure.
Dave Limp, SVP of devices and Alexa at Amazon, told The Telegraph that if they could come up with a “differentiated idea for a phone, then sure.”
Limp noted that it’s a big market segment and it would be interesting to try again. “The answer [to whether we'll try another phone] is the same as to whether we're going to build a personal computer. What we need to do in order to enter into something new is we have to have an idea to differentiate it.”
Business Insider reached out to Amazon for comment but did not immediately receive a reply.
Limp’s admission is both interesting and a bit concerning. You see, Amazon’s approach to the first Fire Phone was essentially the exact same – try to create a differentiated idea. In that instance, it was the 3D “dynamic perspective” display which failed to resonate with consumers. The phone’s mid-range hardware didn’t help matters, either.
If Amazon does decide to once again roll the dice, it’ll need to do so on the back of something that doesn’t feel as gimmicky as the original Fire Phone.
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