Amazon Reportedly Developing a Smartphone to Rival the iPhone
It seemed when Apple launched the iPhone that they would dominate the smartphone market for years to come. Despite the enormous success of the device however, the competitive landscape is a rapidly shifting one.
Earlier this year rival company Samsung gained top spot in both the mobile phone and smart phone league tables (based on units sold).
It has been revealed that online retailer Amazon.com is developing their own smart phone. It has emerged that Foxconn, the company that manufactures the iPhone, is to make the Amazon device.
An Amazon smart phone would nicely compliment its other hardware devices such as the Kindle e-reader and would support its aim to make money from digital products such as ebooks, and downloaded songs and movies.
Last year, Citygroup analyst Mark Mahaney speculated that a move into smartphones would be forthcoming and, given the success of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire tablet devices — the former of which had sold 4 million units at the end of 2011 — a branch out into phones is logical.
Seattle-based Amazon considered buying wireless patents from InterDigital Inc. before the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania- based company said in June that it will sell the assets to Intel Corp. for $375 million, two people said. Amazon is taking pitches and setting up briefings with other sellers, the people said.
Adding patents would help Amazon protect itself against lawsuits alleging illegal use of technology. Amazon has been involved in five patent-related cases this year, and 20 cases last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Demand for mobile patents has increased, as shown recently by Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and its thousands of patents, which closed this year.
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