By Anu Passary | Jul 09, 2012 02:21 PM EDT
It was only a few days ago that rumors of an Apple iPad Mini taking on Amazon's Kindle Fire were rife. Now, Amazon seems to be upping its game by brewing up a smartphone that is tipped to be an iPhone 5 killer.
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In November 2011, Mark Mahaney, analyst with Citigroup Inc., had suggested that Amazon intended to release a smartphone. A recent report by Bloomberg suggests that Amazon is working with the Chinese mobile phone maker Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. on the device. Interestingly, Foxconn is also the manufacturing partner of Apple.
The Amazon versus Apple rivalry is heating up with the anticipated "AmaPhone" eyeing top honors in the smartphone race. The anticipated phone is likely to run on Amazon's version of the Android OS. However, with the current smartphone market saturated with a gamut of options, and more in the making, it will be intriguing to observe how Amazon rises to the challenge.
To give Amazon its due, even though it's a relatively new player in the tech circus, the company has savored way more success in the tablet market than some of its competitors. Early inroads into an untapped market with the Kindle e-reader in 2007 (followed by the Kindle Fire tablet) and low pricing have been centrifugal to Amazon's tablet triumphs.
Pundits opine that several pitfalls will greet Amazon on its way of realizing its first-ever smartphone dream. For starters, the company will need to have the right patents sorted out to avoid any future legal tussles related to ownership, which are pretty commonplace if not the norm in the smartphone world.
Amazon appears to have it all figured on paper and seems to have covered its tracks well and is looking to purchase available wireless patents. In a bid to strengthen their ground, the company has recently roped in Matt Gordon as the new general counsel for patent acquisitions and investments.
Another hurdle that hounds most smartphone makers is dealing with mobile phone carriers. Ina Fried at AllThingsD made an interesting suggestion that "Amazon could buy wireless service wholesale from the big carriers and bundle it with the devices, like it does for the Kindle".
With not much known about the AmaPhone, except that it will rival iPhone 5 and will be launched later this year, it could be a little preliminary to tout it as the next big thing and the proverbial iPhone 5 destroyer.
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