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from the what-happened-to-just-selling-books-online dept.
Amazon is laying off "dozens" of employees at Lab126, the hardware-development center in Silicon Valley responsible for products like the Fire Phone, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Sources at Amazon "familiar with the matter" told the WSJ that the company has scaled back or halted numerous development projects, including a large-screen tablet and a smart stylus.
The WSJ's sources claim that the layoffs form part of a broad reorganisation at Lab126, which began last year after disappointing sales of the Fire Phone. This resulted in Lab126 combining its tablet, e-reader, and phone projects. In October 2014, it emerged that Amazon was sitting on over $83 million (~£54 million) of unsold Fire phones, which the company swiftly tried to shift by offering a substantial price drop.
It's not yet clear whether Amazon will continue its in-house smartphone development. Some engineers at Lab126 told the WSJ that development would be shelved, while another claimed it had been shifted to Seattle under Steve Kessel, an executive who helped spearhead the company's hardware unit and oversaw digital media like e-books and music.
Has Amazon bitten off more than it can chew with mobile devices?
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Friday August 28 2015, @05:52PM
They're learning the hard way that, unless you're Apple, selling proprietary and locked-down products isn't profitable. Apple gets away with it because they're actually really good at what they do, and the limitations are (for most people) more than balanced out by the quality of the product. Unless you have the chops though, people notice that they're getting essentially a "fake" Android phone. Fire OS is no iOS. Amazon store is no App Store/Google Play.
They'd be better off just making some custom pre-installed apps for vanilla Android. Amazon hardware is actually pretty good. Their tablets/readers feel very solid and have decent specs--but they're as proprietary as Apple without any of the benefits.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2015, @06:16PM
They're learning the hard way that, unless you're Apple, selling proprietary and locked-down products isn't profitable
Yeah those kindles are sitting on the shelf and NO one buys them at all...
(Score: 3, Informative) by K_benzoate on Friday August 28 2015, @06:24PM
I have a Kindle. I've never bought a single e-book from Amazon. It reads my non-DRM files just fine.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Friday August 28 2015, @07:19PM
With respect, you didn't answer the man's question.
;)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday August 28 2015, @07:28PM
Never the less, the Kindle is a primary example of a locked down product, that is apparently doing just fine for Amazon.
It more or less demonstrates the falsehood of the GPs assertion that only Apple can succeed at selling a very propriety
product. (Disclosure: Every amazon book I ever bought has had the DRM ripped out of it for use on other devices. I've never owned a Kindle).
Phones have flooded the market with new designs, and Amazon was late to the party and brought only yesterday's stale Hors d'oeuvres as a treat.
Apple succeed by following the Marine Corp motto: Arrive firstest with the mostest.
Amazon failed by following Maynard G Krebs motto: What, Me? Work!
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Friday August 28 2015, @07:38PM
Amazon failed by following Maynard G Krebs motto: What, Me? Work!
"well, that's just, like, your opinion, man"
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Informative) by K_benzoate on Friday August 28 2015, @07:53PM
I don't consider the Kindle to be locked down. For it to be locked down as an e-reader it would only accept books bought/downloaded from the Amazon store. You are free to use non-DRM files and you have complete control over them. You don't even ever have to log in to your Amazon account on the device.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday August 28 2015, @09:28PM
Kindle has the opposite problem. You can load any content you like onto it, but you can't take content from the Kindle store and use it with 3rd party ebook readers because it's been locked. If you want to do that, you have to crack the books.
It's beyond me why the DoJ hasn't sued them over the obvious antitrust violation.
(Score: 2) by efitton on Saturday August 29 2015, @05:26AM
Not sure I understand. I've bought "kindle" books and read them on both an Apple device and a LG device. I've installed apps from the "amazon play store" onto the LG phone. I don't love amazon but you can by their "stuff" and use it on non-kindle devices.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday August 29 2015, @04:00PM
You're still using their software. You can't load the books on anything that Amazon hasn't blessed. My Nook will never get to use the Kindles store because it hasn't been blessed. The only way I can load books from Amazon on my Nook is to break the DRM and convert it to an epub.
I'm not really sure what's so confusing about this. You're not loading files onto an Apple or LG device, you're loading it into their app. Which probably allows you to use books from other stores. Even under the best case scenario, you still need to have another ebook app.
(Score: 2) by efitton on Sunday August 30 2015, @11:26PM
It is less than ideal, and yes, I am using their software. However, I am certainly able to get my content on any Android or Apple device. Although I haven't looked at other e-ink readers.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday August 28 2015, @06:43PM
To support your point: the Echo, which apparently is an open protocol, is going big for them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @01:21AM
Not sure Apple is good at what they do, from a technical perspective. Yes, there devices are generally built well, but they have a questionable track record software-wise, especially recently. I still think WebOS was better, and HP made sure it died.
I think what Apple is good at is style, and making tech fashionable. Their products are sleek and cool, and even if not the best technically, one looks more hip with an Apple product than with another product. Like good advertising, they are selling a lifestyle, an emotion, a visual that you will apparently experience and enjoy if you own their products.