GoKawiilWhen Amazon introduced its Fire Phone, in 2014, that first attempt at a mobile phone of its own was so poorly received the company stopped selling it only a year later. According to Reuters, that's not stopping the retail giant from trying again.
Amazon is reportedly developing a mobile device that would sync with its existing ecosystem of software and hardware, including Alexa-based smart hubs and its Prime Video TV service.
The project, referred to internally as "Transformer," could still be in the early stages, according to Reuters. At this moment, there's no word on a possible release timeframe or much information on what would differentiate the phone from devices it would compete with like those from Apple and Samsung.
The Amazon phone would focus on AI features rather than app downloads, according to the sources cited in the report. Perhaps inevitably, the device would also be designed to make it easy to buy products from Amazon and to use its services, including Prime Video and Prime Music. The voice assistant Alexa would not be the primary operating system driving the phone, Reuters' sources said.
Amazon is also rumored to be developing an Android tablet, which would be a break from the tablets it sells running its own Fire OS software.
A representative for Amazon declined to comment on the report.
Amazon's 2014 Fire Phone had a limited app store and blocked Google Play services. Josh Miller/CNET
Avoiding the Fire Phone's mistakes
In her 2014 review of Amazon's Fire Phone, CNET's Jessica Dolcourt gave the phone 6.9 points out of 10, calling it "daring, aspirational and pleasing to use," but noted its suboptimal price, performance and 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 at the time.
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