Survey: 27% of UK consumers would consider purchasing Amazon Fire Phone

While I’m writing about the Amazon Fire Phone, here’s a survey conducted by Gorkana THIS morning (i.e. the day after the launch). Depending on how you read it, it’s not brilliant news.

Let’s get into the guts of the release:

Amazon has taken its first step into the mobile phone market and just unveiled its first handset.  A survey conducted by Gorkana Group this morning shows that only 27% of smart phone users would consider changing their current mobile device to Amazon’s new Fire phone. The much-hyped 3D capabilities of the Amazon Fire handset may not be enough for consumers as results showed a dismal 8% were very likely to choose it for its 3D capabilities.

Gorkana Group’s research, which surveyed 1,000 adults in the UK on 19 June 2014, the morning following Amazon’s announcement, found that whilst 72% of consumers trust a retailer, such as Amazon, to be able to produce a good phone, they are unlikely to make the switch.

When asked whether the new Amazon Fire device would make users more likely to shop on Amazon, 80% of those surveyed answered no.

“It’s an exciting time for consumers as Amazon launches its 3D enabled phone”, said Jeremy Thompson, CEO of Gorkana Group, “Whilst consumers are clearly happy to buy phones from non-traditional mobile manufacturers in principal, 3D capabilities alone don’t seem to be a big driver yet. More concerning for Amazon is the consumers lack of conviction that this will drive retail sales, which is the key purpose for the device.”

For the sake of balance, I’m sure a similar survey conducted the day after the iPhone launch would have reported similar results. The Fire Phone is seriously new.

On first glance, the fact that only 27% of respondents said they’ve consider purchasing a Fire Phone, sounds rather poor.

But if 27% of the UK market bought a Fire Phone, the market dynamic would change over night.

The fact that even 27% — more than a quarter — actually replied ‘yes’ to the survey question gives a super indication as to the strength of the Amazon brand.

Imagine if we replaced ‘Amazon’ with ‘John Lewis’? Would the results have been similar? No, I don’t think so. Even the non-geeks are aware of Amazon’s very well received Kindle technology.

So from a standing start to 27% of people nodding their heads in contemplation, that is good news.

How will that translate into device sales?