Amazon Slices Fire Phone Price Ahead Of Holidays

Amazon cut the price for its Fire smartphone just ahead of the Black Friday weekend as it seeks to sell a lot of slow-moving inventory. The phone is now available for $199 without a carrier contract. That price includes a one-year Prime membership, which typically costs $99 a year. That's a $250 price cut from the Fire's original price when it launched in July. Amazon, which entered the smartphone market much farther behind market leaders Apple and Google , has been having difficulties selling the phone. Last quarter, it took a $170 million charge for the phone and vowed to undergo more drastic strategies to unload its inventory. Shares of Amazon were off 0.2% to $334.50 in premarket trade.