FACT-Finder.com Founder and CEO Carsten Kraus responds to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ comments at the Business Insider Ignition conference and suggests ways to turn around the Fire Phone’s fortunes.
The recent admission by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos that he has made billions of dollars of failures on experiments got me thinking. Experimentation to differentiate a brand is great, but only when relevant. Being first to market might be cool, but e-commerce has now grown up and surely it’s time for Amazon and Jeff Bezos to follow suit.
People don’t buy from Amazon because it’s edgy and experimental, but rather because it’s reliable and convenient. Reliable, because delivery is fast and it’s easy to return goods. Convenient, because you can find everything you need at a good price, so you don’t have to spend ages comparing.
Convenience and reliability: great values that should be built on when developing new products and services, rather than discarded in the name of experimentation.
Take the Fire Phone – it’s hard to be the coolest phone on the market today. Even 3D did not suffice. So why doesn’t Amazon use its power to innovate to differentiate the Fire Phone by making it the most convenient smartphone available; the most convenient for interacting with the real world. This would perfectly fit its key characteristics.
The Fire Phone’s camera, for instance, ticks this box by featuring a dedicated physical button and one-click access. That means there’s no need to unlock the camera via the display first, as you have to do on the iPhone. This should be built on by delivering the best experience after taking a picture, such as:
1. Improving the sharing of images via Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp.
This could be made easier by combining it with Firefly recognition. For instance, if you post a picture of a landmark that’s recognised by Firefly, the Fire Phone could suggest a caption, such as: “Standing in front of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona”, or “Built by architect Antonio Gaudi in 1882”.
2. Making it easier to sort or categorise pictures
Unlike other smartphones, the Fire Phone could allow an image to appear in more than one category, such as “My daughter” AND “Holiday Italy 2014”. Categorisation is technically like tagging, yet it’s still a challenge to make this easy to use.
3. Allowing pictures to be shared on tablets and TVs
This would probably be easiest with Amazon’s own FireTV. What’s more, interaction with general smartTV/WiFi-interfaces could be optimized.
4. Enabling the use of Amazon’s FireFly technology on existing pictures when they are displayed
Imagine a friend asking: “What’s that building?” or “I love that lady’s shoes – where can I buy them?”
I’m a big fan of Amazon, but I feel it is trying to differentiate in too many fields. It’s better to stick to relevant areas, and experimentation works best if customers can build one big picture from it.
We can’t all be the coolest kid on the block, but we can take what differentiates ourselves and build on that. Amazon has always put the customer first. If it continues to do so, I’m sure it will thrive.
By Carsten Kraus
Founder and CEO
FACT-Finder.com
www.fact-finder.com