For Amazon's Fire Phone To Succeed, It'll Need To Fix Its App Store Problem First

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Amazon is reportedly processing a caller Fire Phone.
• The erstwhile exemplary had respective issues, including an inferior app shop experience.
• Under caller supervision (and pinch much experience), Amazon tin do amended this time.

Well, I don't cognize astir you, but I surely didn't person "new Amazon smartphone" connected my 2026 bingo card. As it turns out, according to Reuters, nan retailer whitethorn beryllium processing a caller smartphone, internally known arsenic "Transformer." 

Those acquainted pinch nan manufacture will instantly tie parallels to Amazon's erstwhile smartphone effort, nan Fire Phone from 2014. Appropriately, that telephone ended up arsenic portion of a occurrence waste astir a twelvemonth later.

The original Fire Phone is still burned successful our minds

Now, successful 2026, pinch nary less than 5 telephone brands successful nan US -- Apple, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and OnePlus -- Amazon faces a batch of competition. In fairness, it besides has 2 less platforms to compete against. In 2014, Windows Phone and BlackBerry were still very overmuch portion of nan smartphone conversation; these days, not truthful much.

Also: What's correct (and wrong) pinch nan Amazon Fire Phone

But there's 1 correction Amazon made successful its first effort that will perfectly torpedo its chances astatine succeeding -- nan Amazon AppStore and specifically nan determination to forego Google Play services. Google is simply excessively valuable successful excessively galore lives to not support nan platform. Oh, and nan Amazon AppStore is terrible.

It has admittedly been a fewer years since I past inventoried nan Amazon AppStore, but erstwhile I past checked, nan Amazon AppStore was a wasteland of half-supported aliases unsupported apps, pinch 2 notable exceptions. Finance, location control, and connection apps were either absent aliases had not received updates for years prior.

The only apps successful nan Amazon AppStore that remained up to day were productivity apps (largely powered by Microsoft) and streaming apps. Those 2 categories activity very good connected nan cheap, underpowered hardware that Amazon usually launches, and that's fine. A coffee-table tablet is simply a bully point to person lying around.

A spark of hope

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

But a telephone is different animal entirely. If a tablet is simply a instrumentality to entertain, a telephone is simply a instrumentality for everything else. One of nan cardinal reasons Windows Phone grounded was its deficiency of an app ecosystem. The Senior Vice President of Devices and Services,  Panos Panay, is very acquainted pinch that saga, truthful I'm hopeful that he will make nan aforesaid arguments to nan powers that beryllium astatine Amazon. 

Honestly, if location is anyone who I deliberation tin propulsion disconnected an Amazon telephone revival, it's astir apt Panay, who understands creation and merchandise improvement amended than most, and to beryllium perfectly honest, he's my absolute favourite merchandise presenter.

Also: Amazon Fire Phone review: Not a awesome smartphone

Of course, each of this is early days. This telephone is being worked connected internally, and moreover Reuters reports that it could get nan axe agelong earlier it sees nan ray of day. Personally, I'm intrigued by nan idea, but I sincerely dream that Amazon doesn't make this nan shopping telephone it tried to build successful 2014. 

If Amazon conscionable wants to make a nice, well-built smartphone, pinch a tegument that pushes Amazon contented to nan fore, I'm good pinch that. But leaving Google down is simply a correction that Amazon cannot spend to make again. Fool maine once, and each that.

So, if this telephone is to person a chance astatine success, it needs to clasp Google services truthful it tin beryllium a telephone that everyone tin use. Amazon has nan marque powerfulness to make a telephone for illustration this work, moreover up against juggernauts for illustration Apple and Samsung, but it needs to attack this correctly, lest it extremity up successful yet different Fire telephone occurrence sale.