Amazon Joins Smartphone Wagon With New Android Phone

By Valli Meenakshi Ramanathan | July 06 2012 8:56 AM

The smartphone phenomenon has found its latest suitor in Amazon. Following the footsteps of Apple, mobile handset manufacturers, including giants such as Nokia, Samsung and HTC, forayed into the high technology market and witnessed significant change of fortunes. Now, the segment has attracted a new contender with Amazon's reported entry into the market.

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Amazon could operate at a loss in the first quarter of 2012.

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Though news of the online retail giant foraying into the smartphone segment has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, what has actually given traction to the whole report is the alliance with handset manufacturer Foxconn.

Amazon's entry into the high profile segment is a gradual extension of its strategy to make a difference in retailing and mobile commerce. Products such as Kindle Fire and Kindle e-Readers are ample proofs to the statement shared above.

That Foxconn is already involved in manufacturing handsets for Apple, Microsoft and China's Baidu and is engaged in the current deal speaks volumes of Amazon's commitment to take its mobile business to higher echelons.

As for Android, Amazon is no stranger to the platform as its tablet Kindle Fire already sports a modified version of the operating system.

It is widely believed that the smartphone would also host its own variant of the Android operating system that is likely to have access to the Kindle App Store.

This apart, Amazon is also taking steps to fortify its smartphone foray against probable patent suits by hiring an intellectual property acquisition expert, Matt Gordon, former senior director of acquisitions with Intellectual Ventures Management LLC, the company said to own more than 35,000 intellectual property assets.

The smartphone is considered as an extension of Amazon strategy to sell its products from a wide range of hardware devices to boost its retail operations.

To further bolster its mobile foray, the Seattle-based company had tried to acquire wireless patents from InterDigital Inc., but the Pennsylvania-based company sold its assets to Intel Corp for $375 million. But this has not deterred Amazon from pitching calls for patents with other sellers of wireless services.

It remains to be seen how Amazon's smartphone will change the game in the high tech mobile segment. As for consumers, the news rings in good times as it gives them another option in the smartphone segment.