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Amazon Kindle smartphone on the horizon?
Amazon's Kindle smartphone is reportedly being made in Taipei for somewhere between $150 and $170 and will be available sometime in 2012
Amazon's purported Kindle smartphone could be launching as soon as 2012
Published on Nov 21, 2011
With Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet nearly a week out the door, it seems the online shopping powerhouse already has their sites set on their next possible mobile product: the Amazon Kindle smartphone.
The news comes by way of AllThingsD which reported late last week that Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney told clients in a research note that sources in Taipei indicated the online shopping giant will launch a smartphone in Q4 of 2012.
Based on info and Amazon's recent Kindle Fire pricing, Mahaney and other Citigroup anlaysts estimated that Amazon’s phone may cost between $150 to $170 to produce, and they will sell it for something close to that price, which would be unheard of.
Like the Fire before it, the Kindle smartphone would give Amazon yet another way to deliver services. just one more way to get consumers to buy media and content from the company's massive catalog of music, movies, and television shows. The Week ponts out rightly that the Kindle smartphone is probably just the logical next step for Amazon.
No word yet on what mobile OS Amazon would use for its phone, but I'm betting big on Google's Android because it's free and the company has a great comfort level with it after using it for the Fire. They also understand it quite thoroughly after building an entire app store around it.
All said and done, if Amazon can launch a smartphone unlocked or on contract for that price or free, the online giant just might nave another hit on their hands.
Here's to hoping we find out more in 2012.
Image Credit: MisionAndroid
