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Amazon is already testing a smartphone with Asian component suppliers that could be in production as early as this year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The smartphone that Amazon is currently testing has a screen size of between four and five inches, one of the Journal’s sources says.
The report seems to support a Bloomberg report last week that the Seattle-based Internet retailer was working with hardware maker Foxconn to create a device to challenge the iPhone and Android-based phones. The company is also reportedly beefing up its portfolio of patents covering wireless technologies to head off expected legal challenges.
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These are not the first rumblings we’ve heard of Amazon working on a smartphone of its own. Citigroup analysts suggested last November that the Seattle-based e-commerce giant was working with Foxconn to develop a smartphone slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Amazon is also said to be readying the release of its second-generation Kindle Fire, which is expected to put a little heat on Apple’s iPad and the Nexus 7, the Android-powered tablet Google unveiled last month at Google I/O. The trio also compete in the app arena, with Amazon’s Android Appstore challenging Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store for mobile users’ business.
