Why Amazon's Troubled Fire Phone Failed to Sell

Amazon's Fire Phone, which the cloud retailer launched earlier this year with an exclusive partnership with AT&T, was at the time the big news story in mobile. It was Amazon's first smartphone launch. It included several features smartphone buyers typically won't find in a mobile handset. And Amazon pushed it as the next big thing in smartphones, capable of taking on the likes of Apple's iPhone and Samsung's line of Galaxy devices. However, it appears the Fire Phone has failed to catch on in the crowded market. Amazon on Oct. 23 announced that it would take a $170 million charge to write down the costs associated with the Fire Phone. Furthermore, Amazon reported that it had $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones on hand at the end of the third quarter, demonstrating just how poorly the device was received compared with the iPhone 6, which Apple has called the biggest iPhone launch in history. Naturally, Amazon hasn't gone into detail as to why the Fire Phone has failed to turn on buyers. But that hasn't stopped analysts from chiming in on what might be going on. This eWEEK slide show shares some views on what went wrong with the Fire Phone. - See more at:

The Pricing Reflects Demand Issues

When the Fire Phone launched, it was available for $200 with a two-year contract. Since then, prices have been plummeting. In just two months, AT&T started offering the device for 99 cents with a two-year deal, and O2, the U.K.-based network running Amazon's handset, is offering it for free. So, those who are looking for a deal will at least find one in the Amazon Fire Phone.

Google is developing cancer and heart attack detector

Google is aiming to diagnose cancers, impending heart attacks or strokes and other diseases, at a much earlier stage than is currently possible.

The company is working on technology that combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient's bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor.

The idea is to identify slight changes in the person's biochemistry that could act as an early warning system.

The work is still at an early stage.

Early diagnosis is the key to treating disease. Many cancers, such as pancreatic, are detected only after they have become untreatable and fatal.

There are marked differences between cancerous and healthy tissues.

Google's ambition is to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear.

The project is being conducted by the search company's research unit, Google X, which is dedicated to investigating potentially revolutionary innovations.

It marks the firm's latest shift into the medical sector following its work on glucose-measuring contact lenses for patients with diabetes and the acquisition of a start-up that developed a spoon to counteract the tremors caused by Parkinson's disease.

Google has also bought stakes in Calico, an anti-ageing research company, and 23andMe, which offers personal genetic-testing kits.

Nanoparticles

The diagnostic project is being led by Dr Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist who previously developed a cheap HIV test that has become widely used.

"What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative," he told the BBC.

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“Start Quote

Doctor-patient relationships are pretty privileged and would not involve Google in any way”

Dr Andrew ConradGoogle X

"Nanoparticles... give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level."

Google is designing a suite of nanoparticles which are intended to match markers for different conditions.

They could be tailored to stick to a cancerous cell or a fragment of cancerous DNA.

Or they could find evidence of fatty plaques about to break free from the lining of blood vessels. These can cause a heart attack or stroke if they stop the flow of blood.

Another set would constantly monitor chemicals in the blood.

High levels of potassium are linked to kidney disease. Google believes it will be possible to construct porous nanoparticles that alter colour as potassium passes through.

"Then [you can] recall those nanoparticles to a single location - because they are magnetic - and that location is the superficial vasculature of the wrist, [where] you can ask them what they saw," said Dr Conrad.

Unattached nanoparticles would move differently in a magnetic field from those clumped around a cancer cell.

In theory, software could then provide a diagnosis by studying their movements.

As part of the project, the researchers have also explored ways of using magnetism to concentrate the nanoparticles temporarily in a single area.

The tech company's ambition is ultimately to create a wristband that would take readings of the nanoparticles via light and radio waves one or more times a day.

Google's diagnostic project may never come to fruition, but its significance lies in the fact it represents part of a wider push by the firm into health tech.

Bearing in mind this is already a crowded sector, it begs the question: why?

The search firm denies that it wants to run its own diagnosis service, with all the privacy headaches that would entail, but the patents it creates along the way could prove lucrative.

No doubt the fact that co-founder and Google X chief Sergey Brin has been told that a gene mutation has increased his likelihood of contracting Parkinson's has also focused efforts.

And the company clearly believes its expertise in "big data" analysis and its freedom to focus on giant leaps forward, rather than incremental steps, plays to its advantages.

It's worth remembering that another much hyped health idea, Google Flu Trends - which aimed to predict the spread of the virus based on internet searches - has been dubbed a failure by some after researchers said it had overestimated the number of cases in 100 out of 108 weeks.

And US health watchdogs banned Google-backed 23andme from selling its genetic screening kits last year.

On the other hand, Google's "smart lens" for diabetics shows promise, with Swiss firm Novartis stepping up to license the technology in July.

And the forthcoming Android Fit platform, designed to harness data from other apps and wearables, has a good chance of success given the huge number of people using the operating system.