Go or no-go recommendation on Amazon launching its own smartphone

You are a product manager at Amazon, and you have to decide whether the company should enter the smartphone market. Senior management will discuss it at an upcoming meeting. How would you reach your decision before then? ```hint Start from Amazon's reason Pin down what Amazon would want a phone to achieve before you size the market, because that goal decides which options are worth comparing at all. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is this a decision for today, knowing Amazon has launched a phone before and withdrawn it, or should I treat it as a first attempt? - What does leadership expect a phone to do for Amazon: earn device profit, drive shopping and Prime, give Alexa a home, or reduce reliance on other companies' platforms? - How much time is there before the meeting, and does leadership want one recommendation or a set of options with my preferred one? - Which markets are in scope for a first launch? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - The goal a phone would serve for Amazon, defined before any market analysis - Market and competitive analysis: where share and profit sit, what an entrant needs, and where it could differentiate - Amazon's assets and gaps for this market, including lessons from its own device history - A set of options, including ways to meet the goal without building a phone, compared on explicit criteria - A recommendation ready for executives, with its evidence, main risks and what would change it, plus how stakeholders are prepared before the meeting ### Follow-up Questions - Leadership wants to go ahead despite your reservations. How would you shape the launch to limit the downside? - Which three numbers would you put at the top of your document, and why those? - How would your recommendation change if the main goal were getting Alexa into more hands rather than growing shopping?