Amazon Soon to Launch Own Smartphone

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While there is no details yet about the possible price of the smartphone, sources of Wall Street Journal revealed that the new smartphone will stand out among other Android devices as it will feature a 3D-like display with hologram images. Furthermore, it will also be equipped with retina-tracking technology that can sense the user's eye movements and front-facing cameras with automatic zoom and manipulation.

Based on this feature lineup, it seemed that the Amazon smartphone will be optimized for online gaming.

Once the smartphone is released, Amazon is predicted to go head-to-head with telecom giants Apple Inc. and Samsung, which has just released its latest Galaxy S5. According to the market research company International Data Corporation (IDC), the two companies have a combined lion's share of 49 percent of the worldwide market. However, since that is only half, it only shows that there is still a "little room for upstarts", where the Amazon smartphone can break in.

Amazon is said to have been demonstrating versions of the handset to developers in Seattle and San Francisco, to which a spokesman declined to comment. But according to a source who has witnessed the demo, Amazon is planning to launch the smartphone by June and distribute it to the market by September. However, the source is also quick to caution that the world's biggest online retail store's plan is not yet final.

Rumors about Amazon launching its own smartphone first broke out in May 2013. Then in October 2013, another rumor came out after sources of WSJ said that the company plans to offer the device for free. The same month, another report from Financial Times revealed that Amazon is working with HTC on a smartphone project and it is already on the final stage of development with a planned release date of 2014.