It looks like there will never be an Amazon Fire Phone 2

Sometimes its always good to see the future ahead and amend it on time too. The widely panned Amazon Fire Phone was nothing short of a catastrophic failure for the retail giant, and now it seems Amazon is changing course.
The Wall Street Journal reports Amazon has parted with many engineers at its Silicon Valley development firm, Lab126 — specifically, the ones responsible for development of the Fire Phone.



Lab126 began operations in 2004 to develop the Kindle e-reader and has expanded in recent years to build a slew of devices, sold at near cost and designed mainly to drive more purchasing to Amazon. It currently offers various Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire tablets, the Fire Phone, the Fire TV streaming box and dongle, the smart-home Echo concierge and the relatively new Dash buttons, which offer one-press purchasing of various home essentials (like Kraft dinner).



With the failure of the Fire phone, Amazon is likely shifting its development priorities away from phones and the technologies associated specifically with it. Dynamic perspective, for instance — which is exclusive to the Fire Phone and adjusts the display based on the user's gaze — has been widely seen as a gimmick with no real purpose

This report stands in contrast to a September 2014 report that said Amazon was undertaking a hiring spree to develop wearables and Internet of Things gadgets. Interestingly, Lab126 has 184 job listings posted on its site for positions in both Sunnyvale, California and Seattle, Washington.
The Wall Street Journal paints a more bleak picture of Lab126. It has reportedly halted smartphone development as well as shelving a giant tablet, a smart stylus and a projector. Spirits of those working at Lab126 are also reportedly low in response to the flop of the Fire Phone and the large loss of employees.
Many have jumped ship, like Jon McCormak, who left his position as CTO of Amazon Devices to join Google.
The report says Lab126 is still developing a computer designed to be used in the kitchen called Kabinet, which responds to voice commands like the Amazon Echo. Also in the works is a tablet that uses 3D rendering, similar to dynamic perspective in the Fire Phone.
While new devices like the Echo and the Kindle Paperwhite have been well received, the Fire Phone was a total flop.
The Phone had some innovative features, but they didn't really enhance the experience enough for the extra weight and complexity to be worth it. The fact that it was only available with AT&T only hurt, and it never picked up a significant market share.
Even a price cut to $0.99 on contract couldn't help the poor Fire Phone. Amazon had to take a $170 million charge on the Phone, mostly due to a glut of unsold inventory.
In spite of the phone's failure, Amazon's business has been surging. It recently posted a net income of $92 million, overtaking brick & mortar arch-nemesis rival Walmart in the process.
It seems like the Fire Phone is officially dead, but more smart-home devices from Amazon are in the works. The Echo is a bit of a runaway success, and Internet of Things products could be a great way to drive more Amazon sales.