Amazon’s 2014 launch of the Fire Phone, its initial foray into smartphones, was so badly received that the company discontinued sales just one year later. Reuters reports that this isn’t deterring the retail powerhouse from another attempt. Amazon is said to be working on a mobile gadget that integrates with its current lineup of software and hardware, such as Alexa-powered smart hubs and Prime Video streaming service. The initiative, known internally as “Transformer,” may still be in its preliminary phase, per Reuters. Currently, there’s no information on a potential release date or details on what would set the phone apart from competitors like Apple and Samsung devices. According to sources in the report, the Amazon phone would emphasize AI features over app downloads. Unavoidably, the device would also be built to simplify buying products from Amazon and accessing its services, such as Prime Video and Prime Music. According to Reuters’ sources, the voice assistant Alexa would not serve as the phone’s main operating system. Amazon is also reportedly working on an Android tablet, diverging from its current tablets that run the company’s Fire OS software. An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the report. The Amazon Fire Phone from 2014 featured a restricted app store and blocked Google Play services. By Josh Miller from CNET. In her 2014 CNET review of Amazon’s Fire Phone, Jessica Dolcourt scored it 6.9 out of 10, describing it as “daring, aspirational and pleasing to use,” while criticizing its high price, underwhelming performance, and weak specs. “You need to be all-in on the Amazon ecosystem to fully appreciate it, and even then, it’s not delivering a lot of Amazon features that you can’t get on rival products,” Dolcourt wrote. So what could Amazon do differently this time to avoid another flop? “Amazon has shown it can back electronics with a consumer-friendly price point,” says Dolcourt, now CNET Group’s vice president of content.
