Amazon.com Inc. is planning to introduce a smartphone later this month, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, plunging the world’s largest online retailer deeper into the competitive mobile-device market.
Amazon tweeted Wednesday that it was holding an event in Seattle on June 18 hosted by chief dxecutive officer Jeff Bezos for a product unveiling. The post included a picture of a black, thin device with Amazon’s name in silver emblazoned on it. Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, didn’t return a call for comment.
Amazon will hold an event on June 18 at which it is expected to show off a new device, possibly with a 3-D interface. (Yonhap)
A smartphone from Amazon would ramp up its rivalry with Apple, which makes the iPhone. The companies are increasingly going head-to-head in devices such as tablets and in Web services including online entertainment, as they strive to be digital gateways to consumers. Mobile is central to that effort as more people carry gadgets and do their computing on the go.
“This is a play by Amazon to get a stake in the most ubiquitous device category there is,” said Jan Dawson, a technology-industry analyst who runs research and advisory firm Jackdaw.
Amazon announced the June 18 event with a note to customers, developers and press to request an invitation to attend. A video accompanying the tweet showed people moving their heads around to view a device that’s just out of sight, shot from different angles, implying the phone may have 3-D viewing capabilities, a feature reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
Bloomberg News reported in 2012 that Amazon was developing a smartphone that would run on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. was working with Amazon on the device, people familiar with the matter said at the time. (Bloomberg)
