Amazon is reportedly developing its own smartphone in conjunction with manufacturing partner Foxcon.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a smartphone, citing ‘people familiar with the situation’.
Officials at some of Amazon’s parts suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Seattle-based company is testing a smartphone and mass production of the new device may start late this year or early next year.
Some analysts have positioned the rumored device as a challenger to Apple’s dominant iPhone, but the online retailing giant could be aiming far lower for its smartphone offering.
According to BGR, the Kindle Fire was priced at $199 for a reason: Amazon wasn’t looking to fight Apple in its established premium tablet stomping ground.
Likewise, the online retailer could be looking to take a similar tack and establish its domination over the $0 to $100 smartphone market. This sort of user base could then allow it to tap demand for location-based services.
In the United States, the $200 price point is excessively toxic for any manufacturer that isn’t Apple or for any smartphone that isn’t a new flagship model from Samsung or Motorola.
Everyone has been forced by the iPhone’s domination of this market to move down the scale, to the on-contract $100 to $0 price range.
Read the WSJ report here