元器件交易网讯 6月23日消息，针对亚马逊Fire Phone与苹果5S、Galaxy S5无异的售价，外媒venturebeat发文解答为何亚马逊选择这样的价格策略。

　　亚马逊Fire Phone创新性的使用了4枚摄像头，并开发了识别对象的萤火虫（Firefly），还有随时随地与客服面对面交流的Mayday系统。但唯一被用户期待但没能“创新”的一点是它的价格。AT&T两年合约199美元、无锁版本高达649美元的售价让Fire Phone成为了与iPhone 5S、三星Galaxy S5价格无异的智能机。

　　Fire Phone定价策略的改变让人们不禁思考亚马逊的火爆还能持续多久。这种合约价的销售方式与亚马逊为Kindle Fire HD平板提供免费流量的方式相比毫无创意。

　　亚马逊以199美元的Kindle Fire进军平板市场掀起价格战，杰夫·贝索斯指出亚马逊的产品“品质高端价格实惠”。但随着平板价格的崩溃，亚马逊已表现出追随市场的倾向，但Kindle Fire HD 139美元的售价依然与Walmart.com上充斥的平板不到100美元的售价相差甚远。

　　在被这些颇具竞争力的平板追赶时，事情发生了转变，亚马逊推出搭载高端处理器和显示技术的Kindle Fire HDX。7英寸版本229美元起售，与市场上8英寸以下平板价格类似，但较iPad mini 299美元的售价低得多。

　　在销量增长的时候提升品牌层次是很少见的。以宏达电为例，它曾为其他公司开发手机和PDA。还有三星在20世纪80年代曾是垃圾电子的代名词，现在两者都成为专注高端产品的代名词。

　　和努力提升品牌层次这种“爬山”相比，亚马逊的做法更像是在野外考察。杰夫·贝索斯在Fire Phone发布演说中就指出，亚马逊在不同消费者群体中拥有极强的品牌认知度。

　　根据YouGov品牌指数显示，亚马逊在2013年位列品牌健康指数第一位，其子品牌Kindle排在脆谷乐（Cheerios）后位列第十。亚马逊并不需要提高品牌声誉，而是在扩大品牌影响力。

　　另外需要注意的是，Fire Phone设计中的一个特点是购买亚马逊的产品更便捷。消费者在手机上拍照、发邮件、发短信、看地图、发起语音会话，但很少去消费。如果真如杰夫·贝索斯所说，消费者使用设备在亚马逊买东西，那么亚马逊的使用比率将变高。

　　Fire Phone短期内无法威胁苹果、三星，显然它也不打算这么做。这完全是亚马逊在为忠实客户提供一个产品选项，但其生态系统太过疏松以至扰乱这一点。

　　与之类似的还有售价同样为229美元的谷歌Nexus 7。亚马逊产品扩张的下一步——Fire TV同样使用了强大的配置——售价为99美元，与苹果TV机高端的Roku播放器价格类似。（元器件交易网毛毛  译）

　　以下为原文：

　　Amazon’s Fire Phone innovates with itsfour-camera configuration. It innovates with its object-identifying Fireflyfeature. And it innovates with its Mayday feature that providesface-to-tracked-face assistance on the go.

　　But one way in which it doesn’t innovatemay be the way that most people were hoping it would: price. Available for $199on a two-year AT&T contract or $649 unlocked, the Fire Phone is similar toother premium phones such as the iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S5.

　　The Fire Phone’s failure to disrupt has ledmany to question whether it is keeping the Amazon flame. Indeed, the cellularoptions available to Fire Phone buyers are less creative than the limited freedata option Amazon offered with AT&T at the release of the Kindle Fire HD.

　　When Amazon entered the tablet market withthe $199 Kindle Fire, it set off a price war. Jeff Bezos noted that the companyproduces “premium products at a non-premium price.” But while Amazon has shownsome willingness to follow others down the ladder as tablet pricing hascollapsed, offering the Kindle Fire HD for $139, still a far cry from thesub-$100 tablets littering the pages of Walmart.com.

　　But, perhaps burned by that competitivetablet, things changed when the company introduced the Kindle Fire HDX, withits leading-edge processor and display technology. At a starting price of $229for the 7-inch version, it is significantly less than the $299 iPad Mini, butso is nearly every other tablet below 8 inches.

　　It’s not unusual for brands to climb theprestige ladder as their sales grow. HTC, for example, was once a company thatdeveloped phones and PDAs for other companies. In the 1980s, Samsung’selectronics were dismissed as cheap junk. Now, both are focused mostly on high-endgadgets.

　　But what Amazon is doing is more like across-country expedition than one up a mountain. As Jeff Bezos pointed outearly in the Fire Phone presentation, its brand has strong recognition amongconsumers for customer satisfaction across several metrics.

　　And according to the YouGov brand index,which measures “brand health” across a variety of measures, Amazon was the #1brand in 2013, with the Kindle sub-brand coming in 10th behind Cheerios. (Alas,the Fire Phone, like Fire TV, drops the “Kindle” delineation.) Amazon doesn’tneed to raise the prestige of this brand, it just has to extend the influenceof it.

　　There’s another factor at play. The FirePhone has its share of features designed to keep you at a buying level Amazonfinds palatable. However, much more of what consumers do on phones — tasks suchas taking photos, sending e-mail and messages, mapping and, yes, even havingvoice conversations — are more difficult to monetize.  If, as Jeff Bezos said, Amazon monetizes whenconsumers use their devices (since they inevitably drive purchases on Amazon),there’s simply less of the usage pie that Amazon is getting, at least comparedto AT&T.

　　The Fire Phone may not strike fear into theheart of Apple and Samsung for the time being, but it’s clearly not intendedto. It’s about providing an option to Amazon’s loyal customers in a productcategory where its ecosystem advantages are too diluted to disrupt at thispoint.

　　A better comparison would be with theGoogle Nexus 7, also priced at $229. Amazon’s next category expansion — FireTV, also loaded with powerful internals — came in at $99, the same price asApple TV and the highest-end Roku player.