Amazon Reportedly Unveiling the First Kindle Smartphone Tonight
Steven Blum
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The so-called Amazon phone has long been in the rumor mill. If we were to take a guess, we'd wager the phone will be a budget entry, maybe even cheaper than the Kindle Fire (in which case, Amazon would have a real winner). The Verge speculates the phone will run a re-tooled version of Android 4.0 and feature Nokia's mapping services – since Google wants nothing to do with a phone stripped of Android's defining features.
By locking users into their own ecosystem, Amazon has been able to lower prices on decent tech. Will Amazon's latest device wow us with its low, low price? We'll have to wait and see. Given Amazon's history, a budget phone entry could become a real threat to the establishment.
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Comments
This might work for audio and possibly even video. But, it would have to be cheaper than the $75 Kindle and have better specs than the Kindles to make up for (a) being locked in to Amazon's many times higher priced products the same way the iSwindles lock you in to Apple's store and (b) being stuck with aZon's version of the Droid.
On other hand, if it includes cheaper data, messaging and talk connectivity through aZon's big Wireless network than AT&T and/or Verizon charge, then it'll be a HUGE success in the USA as long as the phone simply works.
Well it could work, but the tablet market is sort of different from the phone market. Tablets are primarily media consumption devices, hence the ebooks, music and video streaming services of Amazon complemented the Kindle Fire. But on a 4 inch or so device? I don't think their services, other than the music service, would benefit from an Amazon phone (aPhone?) enough to allow them to undercut the pricing