Amazon’s new trick

Let’s be honest, Amazon is not interested in selling phones. Instead, they want you to carry a device that is a constant and direct connection to its store.

 

See, one of Amazon’s issue is that more and more purchases are mobile and as good as their apps might be, they are still competing with thousands of other apps on both Android and iOS. They are also competing with Apple and Google, owners of the operating systems, both of which have their own stores.

So, in a playbook taken directly from the Kindle, Amazon just released a storefront you will carry in your pocket all the times disguised as a smart phone. Like that, every and any action you take with it can and will be linked to an easy purchase at amazon.com. Not only apps, games, musics, videos and books, but everything else like snow pants, bicycles, LCD TV and power tools.  What does it have to do with photography? Everything.

 

What about photos?

Look at the Firefly feature: Point your  phone to something you are interested in  and by pressing a button on the side of the phone, Amazon will return any information they have about it. In real time. Amazon says that it can recognize more than 100 million items, including 240,000 movies and TV shows, 160 live TV channels, and 70 million different products. If they can do this real time, imagine what they can do with your photos sitting in their cloud.

The number one activity on cell phones today is taking pictures. Whether it is to share on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, G+, or attaching to a text, email or even to remember something, we take a lot of photos. Every one of these pictures is a not only a clue about our lives, but also a giant wish list that Amazon wants to turn into hard cash.

 

Unlimited cloud hosting

By offering unlimited, free photo hosting for every image you take with their phone, Amazon is hoping to better understand you, your needs, your activities and your wishes. Thanks to object recognition, they will not only be able to see everything you capture, but also helps you buy it on Amazon. That photo of your little cousin playing by the inflatable pool in the garden. Well, here is the link to buy the same inflatable pool, the same swimsuit, the same leaf raker in the background, as well as grass fertilizer. All links to the Amazon store. Should you share that photo with your friends and family, which you will since your little cousin is so adorable, they will also be able to purchase all these products from Amazon directly from your photo.

By managing your photos, Amazon will be able to know much more about you than Google because unlike text searches, browsing, buying patterns, photos reveal a much more intimate person, one that is unaware of being spied upon.

The next Instagram?

Furthermore, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see this free unlimited cloud hosting one day be turned into the next photo sharing platform that will compete directly with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, G+.  It would be an easy process. If so, it could one day also host pictures not taken by an Amazon phone, creating a formidable market for the Seattle company. Imagine, all the images taken by everyone on any cell phone becoming a storefront to their store.

Like the Kindle, the Amazon phone is just a means to an end. A device constantly connected to the Amazon store that will analyze your images to help you find (and purchase) every item in your pictures. It will probably be sold at lost, if not given away,  because the revenue is not in the device but in what you purchase with it.

While it is a smart move from Amazon, it is not guaranteed to work. After all, plenty of cell phone manufacturers have  broken their noses in this market, from BlackBerry to Microsoft (remember Ericsson?). A new device, even from a well known brand does not mean vast adoption. It will depend mostly on carriers’ willingness to push the device on its consumers.