Amazon has been rumored to be working on a Kindle smartphone for a few years. A new report now claims HTC has partnered with Amazon to build the handsets.
A recent report claimed that Amazon was working on two Kindle smartphones. One was a high-end device with 3D capabilities and the other was a low-cost smartphone that was reportedly going to be free, a claim Amazon went on to deny. The company just announced its latest Kindle Fire tablets, which include top-of-the-line specs at a low price and they also tie in perfectly with all of Amazon's services. The company has secured itself as a major player in the tablet world, so the next stop is naturally a smartphone.
A new report from The Financial Times claims that Amazon has partnered with a potential rival in building its first smartphone. It claims that Amazon is working with HTC to build three smartphones and one of the handsets is at an "advanced stage of development." Inside sources claim that Amazon was planning to release the first device in 2014 but is now thinking about releasing it sooner.
While HTC would be a rival to Amazon in the smartphone space, the handset manufacturer is an expert and has a long history of building popular devices for other companies. HTC began as an OEM that built different devices such as the Palm Treo 650, the first Android smartphone, the T-Mobile G1 and many of Microsoft's Pocket PC PDAs and smartphones back in the day.
The Financial Times contacted HTC for more information, but HTC gave the usual no comment response, which usually implies there is something to talk about. HTC gave away more in its "no comment" by saying that "it is always open to collaborating with carriers and other tech companies." In other words, it seems very likely that the two companies are working on a few Kindle smartphones.
HTC most recently built a smartphone for another tech company. Facebook partnered with HTC to build the HTC First, a smartphone that was designed with Facebook services front and center, but was deemed a failure. Amazon obviously has more faith. There's no word on when we could expect to see the smartphone launch, but once we hear something we'll let you know.
