[paletoy]

One view is that , as far as eCommerce , mobile is really hard(very low conversion rate) and nobody has yet cracked the formula.This could be a very big risk to amazon if someone cracks it before them.

So they want to find the formula to do it right.and they must do it alone - because sharing data with others is risky. One good bet on the formula is a physical shopping button and the whole button thing. So they try.

But since it's only a trial and not a full fleshed phone with a business model(maybe it was at some point, but competition is hard and changed that),It makes sense to offer it in limited volume - more economical, easier to try new things over smaller groups, etc.

So the price is in order to sell to a few, but once they crack the formula, they prices will probably go down.

This same "trial" theory could also be true for mayday - because customer support is expensive ,but very valuable for a retailer.