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Tag: Kindle Phone

  • That Amazon Phone Might Be Made By HTC [Rumor]

    For the past two years, one of the most consistent rumors in tech was that Amazon would launch a Kindle smartphone. Over those last two years, we’ve only ever heard more rumors as each suggested release date comes and goes. The latest rumor, however, may indicate that we’re finally getting somewhere.

    The Financial Times reports that HTC has partnered with Amazon to create a line of Kindle smartphones that would be solely available through Amazon’s online retail portal. The report doesn’t go into any detail, but it does say that we may see Amazon’s first foray into the smartphone market as early as next year.

    So, is this the real deal? Like most rumors, it’s hard to say at this point. I’m a firm believer in the Amazon smartphone, but it’s existence as nothing but a rumor over the last few years doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. It’s good news that Amazon may have finally found a hardware manufacturer partner, but that partner being HTC brings with its own set of worries.

    Earlier this month, HTC announced that it took its first ever quarterly loss to the tune of $119 million. Before that, there were already whispers that the company’s efforts to secure a third place position behind Apple and Samsung weren’t exactly panning out. It didn’t help matters when the company spent $12 million on a weird ad campaign starring Robert Downey Jr.

    Of course, the Amazon deal could also turn out to be incredibly profitable for HTC. The Kindle Fire has been the best selling item on Amazon for the past few years, and a high quality, yet cheap, Kindle smartphone could prove equally successful. After all, Amazon believes in selling its hardware at a loss and making the money back on sales through its physical and digital retail ecosystem. It remains to be seen if such a model would work on smartphones, but Amazon is the only company with the cojones to try.

    [Image: HTC/YouTube]
    [h/t: TechCrunch]

  • Amazon 3D Smartphone In The Works [Report]

    Amazon 3D Smartphone In The Works [Report]

    A report is out from the Wall Street Journal today, indicating that Amazon is working on a new line of hardware products, which includes a smartphone with 3D display capability, an additional smartphone, and an audio-only streaming device. These are in addition to the previously rumored set-top box. Collectively, the report (which cites people familiar with the company’s plans as the source) says, the projects are known as Project A, B, C and D or “The Alphabet Projects” and are in development in Amazon’s Lab126 facility.

    The one smartphone would be able to display 3D images without users having to wear glasses, and would use retina-tracking technology to let people use their eyes to navigate through content, which would appear to float above the screen like a hologram, according to the report. The device would reportedly support 4G LTE and would come with Qualcomm chips.

    Finally, the Journal’s sources suggested that Amazon’s efforts could lead to a streaming music service that would compete with the likes of Pandora and Spotify, and presumably accompany the aforementioned audio-streaming device. They also indicated that the company wants to release some of the offerings in the coming months, but they could be abandoned if financial or performance concerns become too great.

    We’ve been hearing rumors about Amazon smartphones for quite some time. Speculation has been happening for years. Frankly, it would make a great deal of sense alongside its Kindle and Kindle Fire devices as the company increasingly competes with Apple and Google.

    In March, rumors heated up that Amazon planned to launch a Kindle Phone in Q2.

  • Amazon Plans To Launch Kindle Phone In Q2 2013 [Rumor]

    We can probably expect a new Kindle tablet or eReader this year, but we can’t be so sure about a Kindle Phone. A few rumors have pointed to the company working on such a device, but there’s been nothing concrete yet. The latest rumors continue that trend with some wild speculation regarding the device.

    Digitimes reports that Amazon is prepping a 4.7-inch Kindle Phone for release in the second quarter of this year. If true, that puts the launch at some point between the beginning of April and the end of June. For a product that we haven’t even see yet, it seems highly unlikely.

    Digitimes’ sources address the unlikelihood of a second quarter release by saying that Amazon is only hoping to launch by then. The company may very well have to push the launch back as production progress has reportedly “not been as smooth as expected.”

    Another potential reason for the delay is that Amazon has recently changed the display size of the device. The Kindle Phone was originally going to sport a 4.3-inch display, but Amazon upped it to a 4.7-inch display after “witnessing increased demand for larger size screens among consumers.”

    It will be interesting to see the reception to a Kindle phone if the rumors are true. People use tablets, and by extension the Kindle Fire, to consume content. Smartphones are a somewhat different beast as the focus is placed instead on communication and sharing. Amazon has an inviting content ecosystem that’s easy to sell in a tablet, but it may be a bit harder to sell that experience to those looking fora smartphone.

    [h/t: Cult of Android]

  • Amazon Planning To Build An iPhone Competitor?

    Remember when Amazon was just an online bookstore? Man, those were the days. Palm and Handspring were making PDAs, email was finally catching on, and most of us still had to call the internet from our home phone lines. A lot has changed since then, and Amazon is a whole lot more than “the world’s largest bookstore” these days. They basically invented the e-reader market a few years back, and when Apple tried to take it away from them with the iPad, they responded with the Kindle Fire. Though the Kindle Fire hasn’t made much progress toward knocking the iPad from it’s lofty perch at the head of the tablet market, it’s done pretty well for itself.

    Now, however, it looks like Amazon may not be content with gaining a foothold in the tablet market. According to a report this morning from Bloomberg, they may be going after the smartphone market, too. Citing “two people with knowledge of the matter,” Bloomberg says that Amazon is working with Foxconn to create their own smartphone, which, for the sake of convenience, we’ll call the Kindle Phone until Amazon tells us otherwise. They also say that Amazon is in the process of acquiring patents to insulate itself from charges of infringement down the line.

    Bloomberg’s report doesn’t say anything about potential carriers of the software platform for this Kindle Phone. The carrier question will be difficult to speculate on until an actual announcement is made. As far as the operating system goes, though, the answer is pretty clear. The Kindle Fire runs on a modified version of the Android operating system. It makes the most sense to use the same software on Amazon’s smartphone as well, especially if the phone shares the Kindle branding. To do otherwise is to run into potential compatibility problems between two members of the Kindle family.

    Of course, this Kindle Phone is all just a rumor at this point. Nevertheless it’s a logical move for Amazon. The mammoth online retailer has a thriving content ecosystem already in place. That ecosystem has been a major contributing factor to the success of the Kindle Fire, and would give any Amazon smartphone a definite boost.