Amazon's Fire Won't Set the World Ablaze Just Yet
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Amazon.com had to make up for lost time today when Jeff Bezos introduced the company's first smartphone. The Fire Phone, the CEO crowed, ties seamlessly into Amazon's media services, providing movie rentals, TV downloads, e-book borrowing, and Prime video and music streaming wherever you go.
That "Prime ecosystem," as Bezos called it, is enticing — if you live in the U.S. The splashy product unveiling in Seattle was befitting for a global smartphone launch, but the device will be tied to one carrier in one country to start. The rest of the world will be locked out of some of the most compelling features in the Fire Phone when Amazon starts selling it on July 25.