亚马逊须警惕偷鸡不成蚀把米

    如果舒适牌剃须刀（Schick's）的刀片能够与吉列剃刀配合使用，“剃刀和刀片”战略是不会起作用的，反之亦然。再比如，如果利盟打印机(Lexmark)的墨盒与惠普(Hewlett-Packard) 墨盒完全一致，也会出现同样的结果。

    然而，亚马逊或多或少面临着这个问题。同样的电影和视频游戏，消费者能在很多平板电脑上购买，不一定非要选择Kindle Fire平板电脑。当然，亚马逊为Kindle Fire平板电脑设计了安卓操作系统和Silk浏览器，对通过亚马逊进行购物而进行了优化。但这与苹果公司(Apple)开创的“生态系统”是不同的，苹果控制着iTune和iOS的所有零部件。此外，周五发布的分析报告只计算了硬件成本，亚马逊其实还外包了Kindle Fire的软件业务，这意味着亚马逊每台Kindle Fire平板电脑的损失实际上远不止数美元。具体损失目前尚不清楚。

    亚马逊唯一的优势在于其商店的质量。Kindle Fire平板电脑同时搭载了包括针对回头客的项目“亚马逊优惠项目”，类似美国最大实体书店巴诺（Barnes & Noble）这样的竞争者无法与之竞争。问题在于，公司受欢迎的程度不仅仅取决于广泛的选择和高水平的客户服务，还取决于公司定期进行的折扣活动，这一点是非常重要的。折扣可能会刺激需求，但同时也会严重削减利润。

    如果Kindle Fire平板电脑能够达到iPad的质量，而价格比iPad还要低上几百美元，那自然非常好。但实际情况远远不是这样。最近，亚马逊股票下跌，显然是投资者们因亚马逊为拓展平板电脑市场投入过多对公司及其首席执行官贝佐斯实施的惩戒。然而投资者也许恰好切中了要害。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    Razor-and-blades wouldn't work if Schick's blades fit into Gillette's razors and vice-versa, or if Lexmark's (LXK) ink cartridges were identical to Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ).

    That's more or less what Amazon is facing. Consumers can buy the same movies and video games on many tablets -- you don't need the Fire. Amazon has designed the Fire's Android-based operating system and its Silk browser to be optimized for buying through Amazon. But that's not the same as creating an "ecosystem" like Apple's (AAPL). In that case, Apple controls all the components of iTunes and iOS. What's more, Amazon is losing more than just a few bucks on each Fire it makes. The analysis released Friday counted only hardware costs. Amazon is also licensing software for the Fire, which means it's actually losing more on each unit sold. How much exactly is unclear.

    The only advantage Amazon has is the quality of its store. The Kindle Fire comes loaded with extras competitors like Barnes & Noble can't hope to compete with, including membership to Amazon Prime, the company's frequent buyer program. The trouble is that the popularity is driven not only by the vast selection and the high level of customer service, but also -- and mainly -- by the deep discounts the company regularly offers. That might boost demand, but it also cuts even more deeply into profits.

    It would help if the Fire were so good that it approached the quality of the iPad even at hundreds of dollars less. Unfortunately, that's not anywhere near the case. Investors recently punished Amazon and its chief Bezos for spending too much to gain traction in the tablet market. They might have had a point.