Amazon’s Mayday… Amazon.com
Amazon, ever the customer-centric company, recently released its first smartphone, the Amazon Fire Phone. With it, the world’s largest online retailer and creator of the highly successful Kindle e-readers and tablets, took on the challenge to redefine the way people interact with their smartphone. Instead of tapping and touching, users are able to experience gesture control, mainly with face and eye tracking capabilities. Customer service is more immediate, with apps that give virtual customer service agents the ability to make adjustments on the phone in real-time. According to Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, the Fire Phone is not only about the unique and sophisticated hardware, but also the unique user experiences and superior customer service that it makes possible.
However, it has become clear that Amazon has chosen a difficult path. With the steep price of $649 (without a contract), the Fire Phone hasn’t yet created huge waves in the market since its launch. This could be due to the fact that it’s only offered through the AT&T and Amazon websites. And even if the product is purchased via Amazon, the SIM is locked to prevent it from being used on other wireless carriers.
As with all new market entries, low sales volume could also result in supply chain difficulties. Accessories and cases may be more difficult to obtain and selections will be limited. Additionally, few locations will service the phone and parts could be difficult to source. To make it easier for its customers, Amazon will most likely swap out phones rather than repair them, which many customers will prefer. From a hardware perspective, broken cameras are a typical problem with smartphones and the Fire Phone has four. Therefore, it might potentially raise the number of repairs, or in this case exchanges, that would be needed for each new phone.
The product reviews of the device have been mixed, especially compared to the launch of competitive products like the Galaxy and recent iPhones. The hardware design and performance is good yet the FireOS software is what is truly impressive, with a great new user interface that is truly unique. It’s a device for those tech lovers seeking something really new, even if they have to wait for a wide selection of apps and accessories to use with it.
Amazon’s Firefly app is one of the most innovative customer-centric and retail-focused applications introduced through the Fire Phone. With more than 10 million items in its database, it provides superior shopping support and makes life easier for the sophisticated shopper. Its open SDK’s are another competitive advantage, allowing developers to build apps of their own. One company, MyFitnessPal, has already built a camera feature into its health-conscious app to allow users to determine the nutritional content of packaged foods by snapping a photo of the label.
Mayday is the customer service highlight of the Fire Phone. It connects users with a tech support agent within 10-20 seconds and agents can access the device to walk users through each step of the troubleshooting process. Moreover, agents can highlight what they’re doing in real-time by drawing on the user’s screen. Amazon agents stay on the line and answer questions or provide tips on how to use the device until the customer is transferred to billing or until their problem is resolved.
These customer support apps are important breakthroughs for Amazon and the Fire Phone, as it will take time for users to become comfortable with a new OS and UI. Although Amazon is still iterating and perfecting the Fire Phone based on user feedback, Bezos is surely paying attention to the initial market feedback and will build those considerations into future versions. So far, it appears that Amazon’s customer-centric innovations will help to drive its success in the smartphone market, and may become the model for smartphone customer service across the industry.
Raul Sfat is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at B2X. Bobby Penn, who co-authored this post, is Vice President of Business Development at B2X.
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