“Amazon is working with HTC to develop a range of smartphones as the e-commerce company steps up efforts to compete with Apple and Google, according to people familiar with the project,” Tim Bradshaw, Sarah Mishkin, and Barney Jopson report for The Financial Times. “One of the three devices discussed by the two companies is at an advanced stage of development, according to one person, but another warned that the timeline for launch has been changed before and Amazon may yet decide not to release the device.”
“The device is unlikely to launch this year but may launch in 2014 if Amazon decides to proceed with the project,” Bradshaw, Mishkin, and Jopson report. “By tapping HTC to help design the phones, Amazon is acting much like Google, which has partnered with brands such as Asus and LG to develop its own Nexus line of tablets and phones.”
Bradshaw, Mishkin, and Jopson report, “This is not the first time that HTC has tried to boost its profile and sales by partnering with a better-known internet brand. This year, it brought out the HTC First, the so-called Facebook Phone, but the relatively cheap hardware and deep embedding of the social network in the phone’s software did not prove a big seller.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Facebook Phone “did not prove a big seller.” That’s the understatement of the month, so far.
Related articles:
AT&T discontinues HTC’s ‘Facebook phone’ flop after just one month – May 13, 2013
AT&T cuts ‘Facebook phone’ price to 99-cents just weeks after launch – May 9, 2013
Facebook’s new ‘Home’ promises to ‘make any Android phone a Facebook phone’ – April 4, 2013
Facebook phone. Dumbest idea ever. Where are the advocates trolling to support that…..gone!
What the Facebook phone proved is that no one wants a branded phone. People use Facebook but they don’t want it in their faces every time they use their phone. I buy shit on Amazon all the time but it doesn’t mean I think Amazon is a cool brand, definitely not cool enough to brand a phone.
much agreed Billyjackblack!!!
Holy cow I’d buy a Facebook phone for Minka Kelly. I’ll get all her private updates to her FB wall of, of, of, shall we say, her in various states of undress, in her underwear even. Nice side boob there Minka.
What happened to the real BLN?
This is the real BLN. I got banned by MDN so have had to use various nicks to post under.
Wow! Cool.
So MDN does have SOME standards, even if they are abysmally low.
Clean it up Breeze.
Yes, please, Breeze. This is a different kind of dialog than where you’re going.
And once again, the powerful law of “Two turkeys doesn’t make an eagle”
That is more true than Moore’s law.
Amazon will still have to deal with the telcos who still seem to think that the goal of making a profit is a prerequisite for selling a product.
Of course, maybe Amazon will subsidize yet another service and give the phones to the telcos for free with an Amazon Prime subscription. ;-}
Seriously, I don’t see the telcos cooperating on this one.
If Amazon develops their own OS, then they will be a force, but they will make even more enemies while cutting into their margin growth.
There was a Facebook phone??
This suggests that Amazon believe that the smartphone market has been commoditicised. It has not, though Google’s theft of Apple’s IP has introduced more competitive players than would be usual at this stage of the game.
However, Apple continue to innovate in this space and their willingness to litigate to protect their IP means it will be very difficult for any player to copy any further Apple innovations.
Apple only has to move the goalposts enough to redefine the smartphone and copiers like Samsung and HTC will fall to the wayside.
‘Cuz what the world really needs, is another smart phone!
i really like Amazon as a company and buy many things, infact they are very convenient, however i am annoyed when amazon goes into crap ideas like mobile phones and all that, i mean why?? they got the kindle, why waste money on bankrupt HTC
They should just buy BBRY. Then they could give away all the unsold phones and use existing carrier agreements.
@Pridon … No, BBRY belongs to Microsoft. It’ll be Ballmer’s last purchase but he’ll like it – a lot.
New excuse to grow