Summer Release Of Low-Priced Amazon Smartphone Hinted

Amazon

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Last July, reports emerged on the possibility that an Amazon smartphone was being developed by the online retail giant. Recently Taiwan Economic News revealed that Amazon will release around five million units of the device as early as April next year,

It seems the company may be attempting to duplicate its success with the Amazon Kindle Fire with the Amazon smartphone. The report added that Foxconn was contracted to manufacture the device. Foxconn is widely-known as the manufacturer of the iPhone of Apple.

The selling point of the supposed Amazon smartphone will be its cheap price tag as it goes up against the giants in the smartphone industry, Apple and Samsung.

The price of the Amazon smartphone will reportedly be in the $100 to $200 range, which means it is an exceptionally low-priced smartphone. And cheap does not automatically mean that its hardware will be limited as proven by the Google Nexus 4, which is a rather low-priced high-end smartphone.

Amazon has been rather successful in offering low-priced hardware since it does not depend on the sale of the hardware for its profit. Instead the company shows a profit through the sale of e-books, videos and other downloaded content after the device is purchased by the consumers. This may be the same strategy that the company will use if it will release an Amazon smartphone.

The AmazonKindle Fire tablets use a modified version of the Android OS, which is user-friendly. Some industry watchers are waiting if the company will use a similar interface with the reported Amazon smartphone.

For the moment, Amazon has not issued any statements in connection to the reports of the supposed device. Because of this, it may be advisable to take the report with a grain of salt until after the Amazon smartphone will be officially announced by the online retail giant.

Reports On Upcoming Amazon Smartphone

Amazon

Reports about a possible Amazon smartphone initially emerged last year and it appears that recent reports have given indications that the device may be released near the end of the year or at the start of the coming year.

The Amazon smartphone is supposedly being tested already and mass production may start at the end of the year or at the start of 2013. Foxconn will reportedly take care of manufacturing the upcoming Amazon smartphone. The company also produces the iPhone of Apple.

Some industry watchers expect the Amazon smartphone to make an impact in the market similar to what happened when the Amazon Kindle Fire was released. The price tag of the upcoming device is also expected to be low when compared to other unsubsidized smartphones in the market.

The upcoming Amazon smartphone is also expected to allow users to easily access the various content offerings of the online retail giant, which will offer an optimized shopping experience for the users of the device.

The possible features of the upcoming device remain uncertain although some speculations have emerged giving indications that the upcoming Amazon smartphone may come with an OMAP 4 ARM processor from Texas Instruments while its screen display may be at least four inches. The upcoming device is also expected to feature the Amazon OS although the company may opt to make some modifications in the same way it modified the Android OS for the Amazon Kindle Fire.

A number of challenges may face the upcoming Amazon smartphone when it will be offered into the market. It can be recalled that the Nexus One of Google was not quite successful when it was released into the market.

The company may offer the Amazon smartphone at a reasonable price without the need for a two-year service contract. However since it may not become available in time for the holiday shopping season, the company will have to work harder to allow it to duplicate the successful sales campaign of the Amazon Kindle Fire.