Continuing the tradition of competing directly with Apple’s products started with the Kindle Fire, Amazon is reportedly developing a new smartphone as well to compete against the iPhone and Android devices.
Bloomberg reports:
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) is developing a smartphone that would vie with Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and handheld devices that run Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company is reportedly working with Foxconn (the same manufacturing partner that Apple uses for the iPhone and iPad) to manufacture the new smartphone. The device is likely to run a customized version of Android, as with the Kindle Fire, and integrate closely with Amazon’s various content outlets and services.
Assuming that the report is accurate (Bloomberg is typically a reliable source) It’s hardly surprising that Amazon would build a smartphone. It would give them yet another inexpensive hardware device to promote sales of their digital content, and would serve as an important additional piece to Amazon’s ecosystem – having a smartphone and a tablet running the same unified platform could make Amazon’s hardware offerings more appealing for many users.
In the end, however, it’s important to remember that this is just a rumor, no matter how compelling the idea seems.