It’s been rumored that Amazon may be preparing to release an Amazon branded smartphone, and it may just have found a way to enter the market place with a bang: Offer its smartphone for free!
Amazon has been rumored to be working on a smartphone for years, and those rumors have picked up steam in 2013. Now, Jessica Lessin cites sources familiar with Amazon’s efforts in saying that the company wants to offer a free smartphone to consumers.
The strategy is still in its early stages, and nothing is a sure thing. Amazon’s biggest problem at this point is making sure the carriers would go along with such a “freebie” plan. While carriers do offer older phone models for free, with a two-year agreement of course, Amazon wants their handset to be free whether a contract is signed or not.
It’s believed any smartphone offered by Amazon would follow the Kindle Fire model of running a “forked” version of Android with Google’s services removed, and Amazon’s own services in their place. Amazon sells all of its Kindle devices almost at cost, planning on making money by selling goods and services to the customer down the road.
Last year, it was rumored that Amazon was working with Apple partner Foxconn to develop a smartphone, but we have yet to see those rumors solidify in any way.
