Amazon is set to release its own smartphone later this year or early 2013, subsequent to mere flimsy gossips about the new handset eight months ago.

Media firms, who have been scouting the supply chain of the new Amazon handset, reported that it is already in the testing phase, though information on its specifications remains unclear. Rumors suggest that the phone features a Texas Instruments OMAP 4ARMprocessor, measures four to five inches in size, and possibly carries a modified Android operating system to reach its own strategic goals, as the company did with Kindle Fire.

Famous for providing an incomparable shopping experience, Amazon’s website may also likely be put into the device to cater the increasing number of smartphone owners who are used to wandering around brick-and-mortar store aisles with handsets right into their palms. In a survey by the Pew Research Center conducted during the last holiday season, 50 percent of adult mobile phone users depended on their handsets for shopping assistance. That would be an added point on the image of the device.

Kindle Fire on books. Image: kodomut via Flickr (CC)

However, considering its newbie status in the smartphone arena, the Amazon handset must be equipped enough to face major competition, which left other online giants in vain when attempting to penetrate the tough market. The most prominent example of which is Google with its Nexus One smartphone, which failingly wore-out only after four months of staying in the market.

But Amazon does not tremble with these unfortunate happenings and it rather seems to be eagerly targeting a good spot in the market, similar to how the Kindle Fire obtained its enormous sales last holiday season.

Amazon could somehow bring a tough competition on the handset market as the Kindle Fire to the tablet market. Challenging the unsubsidized rates of other smartphones involved in disputes, the smartphone is likely to be priced at only around $200 with the bonus offer of a smooth access to Amazon’s rich packet of electronic books, digital music, and movies.

Bloomberg last week said that the device would come from Foxconn, the same outfit that makes Apple’s iPhone.

In a report by Wall Street Journal, the massive release of the Amazon device could start by the end of the year or earlier next. That means a $199 smartphone with a huge display and no two-year carrier contracts may gain a share in the market, but it doesn’t leave a possibility of an untimely release and won’t be ready to drive in the holiday madness and influence smartphone sales.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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