AT&T’s Fire exclusivity full of promise, potholes

Amazon.com’s red-hot entry into the domestic cellphone market with its Fire smartphone looks to throw a significant wrench in the competitive landscape thanks to the company’s well-stocked application and device portfolio. However, the true success of the offering will likely be tied in some manner to the support it receives from exclusive carrier launch partner AT&T Mobility.
AT&T has an extensive history with Amazon, powering the cellular capabilities of the online retailer’s Kindle tablets, thus it gaining exclusivity to the device was likely a no-brainer. AT&T was also well represented at the Fire rollout with Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of Mobility and Consumer Markets at AT&T on hand and even taking to the stage.
On the plus side for Amazon, AT&T does have some history in handling exclusive device launches as it was the initial home for Apple’s iPhone lineup.
“I don’t get the sense that this is the same kind of event, but the upside for AT&T is still quite strong with this deal,” noted wireless technology analyst Jeff Kagan.
Of course, AT&T has also stumbled with exclusivity deals as it did with the HTC One device last year or the “Facebook” phone in 2011.
In addition to the feature-packed nature of the content made exclusive to the Fire and its up-to-date specification sheet, the device also comes along at a time when AT&T’s network has begun to garner strong reviews, especially in terms of its LTE network speeds, as well as improved customer care results. AT&T was tagged as the weak link in the initial rollout of Apple’s iPhone, with its network quality the frequent target of ridicule.
AT&T’s customer care strength could be put to the test as one extension of the new agreement is that consumers with the Fire device that tap into Amazon’s Mayday customer care feature with questions about their wireless service they will be transferred to an AT&T representative. Amazon recently noted that 75% of customer contact for its Fire HDX tablet came through the video-based Mayday service.
Another challenge for AT&T may be in consumers adjusting to the data-heavy nature of the Fire device. The broad number of advanced offerings noted by Amazon in its launch all looked to be reliant on a mobile broadband connection. AT&T does require that Fire customers sign up for either one of its Mobile Share plans or at a minimum its legacy DataPro 5 GB plans.
Amazon and AT&T are also offering the device at full price, without a contract, which would open up the Fire to potential unlocking and use on a rival carrier’s network. The most likely destination would be T-Mobile US, which has the 2G, 3G and LTE network that most aligns with AT&T Mobility’s offering and has some history with the iPhone prior to T-Mobile US gaining access to that device last year. T-Mobile US’ CEO John Legere has also spent the past few days populating his Twitter account with messages denigrating the Amazon/AT&T exclusivity.
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