14 DAY TRIAL // Rumors on a Facebook phone have come and gone, but there is still no confirmation as to whether or not Zuckerberg really plans on getting into the smartphone market with his own device.
Anyway, it appears that Facebook is not the only company interested in the mobile phone market. Bloomberg reports, citing two reliable sources close to the matter, that Amazon is currently working to release a smartphone in the following months.
Although Amazon’s officials declined to comment on the subject, word is that Amazon has already inked a partnership with Chinese company Foxconn in order to build this smartphone.
Given the fact that Amazon’s plans are kind of secret at the moment, both sources refused to offer more details on the company’s mysterious smartphone.
However, they did mention that Amazon intends to acquire a large portfolio of wireless technology patents, so it can avoid any possible infringements that other players in the market may take advantage of.
This is not the first time Amazon is trying to enter the smartphone market with its own device. The first rumor of Amazon planning to build a smartphone emerged last November, but no other details surfaced.
More recently, Amazon considered acquiring specific wireless communication patents from InterDigital Inc.
Unfortunately, the said company sold these patents to Intel, but there were no motivations, so it’s possible that Amazon considered it’s not yet the time to enter the smartphone market, or InterDigital simply chose the higher bidder.
Rumor has it that Amazon is currently approaching other patent sellers in the wireless technology area, so we expect it won’t take long until the company finds a good deal.
So far we’ve been unable to learn whether or not Amazon will choose Google’s Android platform or it will come forward with its own proprietary operating system.
In any case, it’s pretty clear that Amazon plans to challenge both Apple and Google, so expect the company to announce more than one device in the following months. Stay tuned for more updates on the matter.