With the impending release of the iPhone (News - Alert) 6 and iPhone 6 Plus into the wild, Apple’s competitors are working overtime to find ways to stay competitive. Amazon, despite launching the Fire Phone earlier this summer is already going after new customers by dropping the price (with a two year contract) to just 99 cents. While there is certainly no shortage of phones that are offered up for this rather cheap price, it’s newsworthy that Amazon is already taking this step on such a new model.
There are a number of reasons the retail giant likely decided to take this step. The first is that while the phone offers some features you won’t be able to find anywhere else, the popularity for the handset hasn’t really taken off. It also appears the company is plenty afraid of the damage the release of not one, but two new iPhones is going to do to the bottom line. Unlike last year, when the difference between the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C was not very pronounced, it appears Apple (News - Alert) is actually offering up two new phones this year.
The iPhone 6 has a larger 4.7” screen, the biggest the Cupertino-based company has ever offered up while the iPhone 6 Plus has a bigger screen than most other Phablets on the market. While both phones will have mostly the same parts on the inside, the various screen sizes could lure customers in who weren’t interested in last year’s models.
For the Amazon Fire Phone (News - Alert), the price drop to 99 cents is a big one from its debut in July of $199. Considering that people also get one free year of Amazon Prime, a service that normally costs more than $70 per year this is one of the biggest deals for any smartphone. Prime allows people to stream video and music to their devices, including the Fire Phone while also getting free two-day shipping on millions of items. Despite what looks to be a rather desperate move, Amazon claims sales numbers for its flagship handset are doing just fine.