????當(dāng)我第一次使用亞馬遜的移動應(yīng)用時，我大吃了一驚。

????我用這款應(yīng)用在沃爾瑪超市（Wal-Mart）掃描了一個條形碼，它不僅正確識別出了我手中的玩具，而且我只要再點擊幾下，就可以讓亞馬遜用隔夜快遞把它送到我家，而且我還能省８美元。當(dāng)我看到手機上顯示訂單已確認(rèn)的消息后，我馬上到超市的另一邊找我的妻子。我拿起另一樣商品向她展示亞馬遜應(yīng)用的神奇功能，她也感到驚奇不已。從那個時刻開始，我們的購物習(xí)慣被永遠(yuǎn)地改變了。

????亞馬遜對人們購物習(xí)慣的影響，無論怎么說都不夸張。據(jù)ComScore公司統(tǒng)計，在2013年冬天，有史以來銷量最高的一個節(jié)日購物季里，美國智能手機用戶中有73.3%，即1.14億多人上過亞馬遜的移動網(wǎng)站。

????但是根據(jù)ComScore公司的同一篇報告顯示，亞馬遜的專用APP，也就是擁有條形碼掃描功能的那個（你在亞馬遜網(wǎng)站上還下載不到這個應(yīng)用），在美國只有22.6%的智能手機用戶使用它。雖然這個人數(shù)也不少，而且給亞馬遜帶來了相當(dāng)?shù)氖杖?。不過根據(jù)研究機構(gòu)ShopperTrak統(tǒng)計，在2013年11-12月，美國人到實體店消費合計1760億次，這說明像亞馬遜這樣的電商仍然有很大的賺錢空間，甚至是把全世界變成一個巨大的“樣品間”。

????亞馬遜的第一款智能手機起了個簡單的名字“Fire”（火），它也是亞馬遜為打造數(shù)字購物天堂推出的最新一款硬件設(shè)備。這款手機將于7月25日開始出貨。早在六月，亞馬遜便將這款手機吹捧得人間少有。它搭載了亞馬遜自家的應(yīng)用和服務(wù)， 并且借鑒了谷歌安卓或是Kindle平板電腦的模式，力求吸引人們來到一個由亞馬遜主宰的世界。

????在硬件方面，這款手機基本上與競爭對手保持了一致水平。首先它具備一塊4.7寸高清屏幕，一臺1300萬像素攝像頭，可以選擇32或64GB的存儲空間，并且有2G內(nèi)存。根據(jù)不同的存儲空間，這款手機的零售價也分為199美元和299美元兩個價位，均為兩年的AT&T合約價。（當(dāng)我問亞馬遜怎樣看待AT&T合約長度的問題時，對方抱以似乎頗感不快的微笑，并表示“不發(fā)表評論”。）

????不過，如今的智能手機經(jīng)常要靠軟件來分高下。亞馬遜的Fire手機搭載了一個叫做FireOS的操作系統(tǒng)，不過它實質(zhì)上是谷歌安卓系統(tǒng)的一個“純凈版”。它的自帶應(yīng)用包括亞馬遜的即時視頻、Kindle電子書、Prime Music市場，值得一提的是每位Fire手機用戶都可免費享用一年亞馬遜的Prime會員服務(wù)。不過光靠一款搭載了亞馬遜服務(wù)的手機，還不足以把全世界變成一個大“樣品間”。這時候就要靠FireFly（意為螢火蟲）大顯身手了。

????作為這款手機的旗艦功能，F(xiàn)ireFly實際上是一項掃描應(yīng)用，它能分辨出１億多種不同的商品，從食品、家庭用品甚至到音樂、電影和游戲等媒體產(chǎn)品都不在話下。它識別實物產(chǎn)品靠的是手機的攝像頭，識別音樂、電視節(jié)目或電影等媒體產(chǎn)品則靠的是手機話筒。

????The first time I used Amazon’s mobile application I was flabbergasted.

????I used the app to scan a bar code at Wal-Mart. Not only did it properly identify the toy in my hand, I was able to order it for overnight delivery with a few more taps. Oh, and I saved $8. With order confirmation in hand, I immediately ran over to my wife, who was a few aisles away. I picked up another product to demonstrate. She shared in my amazement. From that point forward, our approach to shopping was forever changed.

????The impact that Amazon has had on the way people buy things is difficult to overstate. According to ComScore, 73.3 percent of smartphone users in the U.S. accessed Amazon’s mobile websites in December 2013, the height of the winter holiday shopping season. That’s more than 114 million people.

????Here’s the rub: according to the same report, Amazon’s dedicated app—the one with the barcode scanning feature, which isn’t available on the company’s website—was only used by 22.6 percent of smartphone users in the U.S. That’s still a lot of people, and it all results in revenue for Amazon. But people made 17.6 billion trips to U.S. stores in November and December 2013, according to ShopperTrak, suggesting that there is plenty of money still on the table and, for an e-tailer like Amazon, ample opportunity to turn the world into a giant showroom.

????Amazon’s first smartphone, which it calls simply “Fire,” is the company’s latest physical device to help it reach this quasi-digital nirvana. The handset, which will begin shipping on Friday and which the company announced with much fanfare in June, is loaded with Amazon’s own applications and services—taking a page from Google’s Android playbook, or perhaps its own Kindle one—to entice people to embrace a world where Amazon rules.

????On the hardware front, the phone keeps up with its peers. It has a 4.7-inch high-definition display, a 13-megapixel camera, 32 or 64 gigabytes of storage and two gigabytes of memory. It will retail for $199 or $299, based on storage selection, with a two-year AT&T service contract. (When I pressed Amazon regarding the length of the U.S. carrier’s exclusivity, I was met with annoyed smiles and “no comment.”)

????Nonetheless, today’s smartphones are most differentiated by their software, and the Fire’s operating system, a stripped version of Google’s Android dubbed FireOS, comes loaded with access to Amazon’s Instant Video, Kindle books, and Prime Music marketplaces, courtesy of a clever promotion that gives every new Fire owner a free one-year membership to Amazon’s Prime service. Still, a phone packed with Amazon services isn’t enough to turn the world into a show floor. That’s where Firefly comes in.

????The phone’s flagship feature is a scanning application that can identify more than 100 million different products, from food to household items to media such as music, movies and games. It can scan physical items using the phone’s camera and pinpoint more slippery products—think music, television shows, or movies—using the phone’s microphone.