All the cool kids have their own branded smartphones, so why not Amazon?
Per The Mac Observer and the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is expected to introduce its own smartphone on Wednesday, with AT&T as its exclusive carrier upon. Apple struck a similar deal with AT&T in 2007 when the iPhone first launched, which gave the cell service provider a healthy boost in its competition with U.S. market leader Verizon.
Sources have indicated that the launch will happen during an event in Seattle with plans to ship by the end of September.
Amazon’s smartphone is claimed to sport a 4.7-inch touch sensitive display, 720p resolution, six cameras — including a 13 megapixel camera for high resolution photo and video capture — designed to help create 3D-like effects without the need for special glasses, and 3D effects in the interface, too.
Amazon’s move into the smartphone market is likely more about customer lock-in than taking away customers from Apple and Samsung. Much like the Kindle ebook reader, an Amazon smartphone would be a ready portal into the retailer’s online store and would also let the company track user activities which could then be used to better target offers and special deals.
Final details have yet to surface as to the smartphone’s price, albeit it’s expected that the company will offer a lower priced version for a unit that shows ads on screen, whereas an ad-free unit would be more expensive.