Amazon is dropping the price of its failed Fire Phone… again

Amazon is dropping the price of the Fire Phone again, at least for a limited time. The online retailer is now selling its debut smartphone for just $199, unlocked and contract free. As before, Amazon also includes a free, one-year Prime membership with every purchase. The latest sale follows a price drop in September when Amazon sold the device for $0.99 on a two-year contract, or $449 unlocked.

Amazon has already admitted that it priced its Fire Phone much higher than consumers anticipated, and now it’s making a significant adjustment to the device’s price tag: A fully unlocked Fire Phone now retails for $199.00, instead of $449.00. The GSM device is still U.S.-only, which means it’ll work with AT&T and T-Mobile, though not Verizon and Sprint. The $250 price drop puts the Fire Phone into a price range that might be more in line with what consumers were expecting to pay – Amazon’s decision to release a full-priced device, especially when paired with some of its less-than-stellar specs and odd 3D head tracking visual effects, clearly didn’t do a great job of attracting buyers.