The whole point of the exercise is not to just ship volumes of units, but build an ecosystem (just like what Apple and Google are doing too). A budget phone doesn't work because it won't be geared up to play the music and video and all of the other traits Amazon is looking at with it's 'Fire' ecosystem.

> Forget the lame Amazon AppStore, or at least provide both -- AppStore and Google Play, and let the customer choose.

Again, the point here is NOT to let the customer choose, it's to force the consumer into their ecosystem instead of Googles.

Switching costs are high, so getting people hooked into the Amazon Appstore might mean a lifetime customer, etc. One of the reason Amazon has designed Fire Tablets for children.

And this is another reason the Fire Phone is having a hard time - developers think the Amazon AppStore is shit.