Amazon smartphone will be reportedly ready in time for US holiday season

And just when we though we would not hear about an Amazon smartphone this year, there’s word that the company is eyeing a late 2014 launch for the new device.

The Wall Street Journal cited people close to the company’s plans as saying that Amazon will be jumping into a crowded market dominated by Apple and Samsung. The company has been demonstrating versions of the handset to developers in San Francisco and Seattle recently. It intends to announce the device in June and ship to stores around the end of September, the newspaper cited the unidentified sources as saying.

That estimated launch period would be bang in the middle of the iPhone 6 launch, which does make Amazon’s work a lot harder. And it could also have Google’s new Nexus smartphone to compete against in the Android segment. More competition can be expected from other offerings as September will also see the annual IFA event. While it’s not made clear whether the new smartphone is based on Android, we really doubt that Amazon would move away from its custom Fire OS.

Speculation about an Amazon smartphone has been going on for at least two years now , ever since the Kindle tablets hit market. Foxconn has been rumoured to be a production partner. It was a natural progression in terms of the product line, though no phone has materialised as yet. Last year, rumours were swirling about Amazon releasing a smartphone for free , hoping that content purchases will allay the cost. Then there was word about a smartphone with a 3D display . However, all that has turned out to be nothing more than speculation. This time around after a foray into the home entertainment market with the Amazon Fire TV , the company has multiple options and could seriously look at solidifying the Amazon content ecosystem.

With inputs from Reuters