Amazon Reportedly Plans Smartphone

AlistairCharlton writes "Online retailer Amazon is developing its own smartphone to take on the Apple iPhone and handsets that run the Google Android operating system, according to media reports 'Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. (2038), the Chinese mobile- phone maker, is working with Amazon on the device, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Amazon is seeking to complement the smartphone strategy by acquiring patents that cover wireless technology and would help it defend against allegations of infringement, other people with knowledge of the matter said.'"

Patents

[Areyoukiddingme]

...acquiring patents that cover wireless technology and would help it defend against allegations of infringement...

Yeah. Innovation. That's what patents drive.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Oh wait. I already said that...

Re:Mini Kindle Fire?

[Urban Garlic]

I'll give you laggy, but locked down? For the mobile space, the Kindle Fire is mostly an ordinary Android device, except that it's got a better eReader app. You can side-load third-party apps without rooting, or you can root it and install the Google Marketplace, or so I've heard.

Of course, the general lock-downedness of the mobile space is irritating to me, but that's a separate topic.

Let's see some new service providers

[Picass0]

I'm less impressed with new phones entering the market. There's a ton of smart phones and everyone can find something they like.

Where we do need more competition is decent service providers. There's a handful of majors (I won't even go into the pay as you go crap vendors). The majors like Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc... have all settled into a pricing structure where they barely compete. There's no dynamic at work driving the price of service down. If anything, they occasionally increase their prices. I'd like to see someone with the financial means to compete enter the arena and change the game.

Re:The Foxconn monopoly

[G-Man]

Well, there is that adage about the person who gets rich in a gold rush is the one who sells picks and shovels...

Why, exactly, do we need yet another Smartphone?

[Anonymous Coward]

We have the iPhone and we have Android. Unless Amazon intends to develop it's own OS, then their phone is just going to be another Android phone. Oh joy... because it's not like there are any Android phones on the market that allow browsing and shopping with Amazon, are there?

Seems to me that their interests would be better served by developing apps that run on existing phones that work better than the ones they have out there right now.

Re:Patents

[alen]

you can license FRAND patents to connect to the network and make a workable phone. the patent owners have to agree to license them to you at the same rates which they license to everyone else which are pennies per handset.

its the OS patents you have to worry about

Re:It's going to be GREAT!!!!

[hsqueak]

You sure about that? Plenty of people are still buying e-readers because they *gasp* want to read books. I know it's a novel concept. If you don't want to read books then yes, get a tablet, but for people who read, e-ink gives great battery life in a very light and portable format which is readable in direct sunlight, unlike fairly much every tablet. And they do exactly what you want, without any FB/Twitter/Angry Birds/email distractions.