Category: Digital Economy News

Amazon’s smartphone launch offers a prudent platform for growth

by Annabelle Gawer, Associate Professor in Strategy and Innovation at Imperial College London

This piece was originally published in The Conversation.

Amazon, the e-commerce internet giant, is launching its first smartphone. Media attention is focusing on whether the phone’s features, such as its rumoured 3D interface, are really as cool as portrayed in its trailer video which aims to wow early users. But by entering into the fray of an already hyper-competitive mobile phone industry, Amazon is doing a lot more than adding another gee-whizz feature to a smartphone.

This launch tells us a great deal about CEO Jeff Bezos’ strategy for his company – and what it might mean for the future of competition and innovation in our increasingly digital world.