--- description: Companies need to embrace failure or otherwise end up stuck, Bezos said title: Amazon Fire Phone a 'Bold Bet,' Jeff Bezos Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6653f23beb8fd6e1/69876bdc428a9e30b7cc5b7f/bezos-amazon.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Amazon CEO Says Fire Phone Was a 'Bold Bet' ## Video: See The Unique Way Amazon Ships This Teddy Bear [Watch (HLS stream): See The Unique Way Amazon Ships This Teddy Bear](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IY8KG0y3.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2014-12-01. Go Behind the Scenes at Amazon to see how the products you buy make it to the shipping truck_ by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 2, 2014 6:10 PM CUT  Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon, unveils the Fire Phone during an event at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on June 18, 2014. Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon, unveils the Fire Phone during an event at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on June 18, 2014.Mike Kane—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 2, 2014 6:10 PM CUT Jeff Bezos doesn’t regret the Amazon Fire Phone, the company’s CEO [said Tuesday](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/amazon-ceo-fire-phone-was-bold-bet-didnt-pay-n259891 "undefined"), despite mixed reviews and weak sales that forced his company to take a multimillion dollar write-down on unsold inventory. “People love to focus on things that aren’t working,” Bezos said at _Business Insider_‘s annual Ignition conference in New York. “That’s fine, but it’s incredibly hard to get people to take bold bets. And if you push people to take bold bets, there will be experiments… that don’t work,” Bezos appeared to put the Fire Phone in a category of what he called “smart failures,” [NBC reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/amazon-ceo-fire-phone-was-bold-bet-didnt-pay-n259891 "undefined"), saying that “companies that don’t continue to experiment, that don’t embrace failure” end up in trouble later. Asked when customers can expect another Amazon phone, Bezos said “It’s going to take many iterations. I don’t know. Ask me in some number of years.” \[[_NBC_](http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/gadgets/amazon-ceo-fire-phone-was-bold-bet-didnt-pay-n259891 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/"},"headline":"Amazon CEO Says Fire Phone Was a 'Bold Bet'","datePublished":"2014-12-02T18:10:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:03:49.435Z","description":"\"It's going to take many iterations\" to get right, Amazon chief says","url":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/","keywords":["Tech","Amazon","Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6653f23beb8fd6e1/69876bdc428a9e30b7cc5b7f/bezos-amazon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6653f23beb8fd6e1/69876bdc428a9e30b7cc5b7f/bezos-amazon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Amazon CEO Bezos Introduces Smartphone to Take on Apple, Samsung","caption":"Amazon CEO Bezos Introduces Smartphone to Take on Apple, Samsung","creditText":"Mike Kane—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/","name":"Amazon CEO Says Fire Phone Was a 'Bold Bet'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See The Unique Way Amazon Ships This Teddy Bear","description":"Go Behind the Scenes at Amazon to see how the products you buy make it to the shipping truck","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IY8KG0y3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-01T04:19:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IY8KG0y3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/","duration":"PT2M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3614034/amazon-fire-phone-jeff-bezos/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```