Amazon reportedly seeks a bigger hand in Android phone software

The failed Amazon Fire phone. (credit: Amazon)

After flopping with the Fire Phone, it seems Amazon is looking to dip its toe back into the mobile pool. According to a report from The Information, Amazon is hoping to partner with smartphone OEMs to deeply integrate its services into handsets. The report claims that Amazon "has discussed working with phone brands at a 'factory level' to integrate its services with devices in a deeper way than simply preloading apps."

"In essence, the retailer would like its partners’ phones to resemble Amazon’s line of Kindle Fire tablets that it builds on its own," the report states. The phones would be full of Amazon services and encourage people to become a member of Amazon Prime.

Amazon already dove into the phone market once with the Amazon Fire Phone, which the company released in July 2014 for $199 with a two-year contract, or $650 unlocked. Six weeks later, Amazon slashed about $200 off of both options and the price kept falling. The Fire Phone cratered at $130 for the unlocked version in August 2015, and it was pulled from the market shortly after. The Fire Phone flop resulted in a bunch of people getting fired from Amazon's hardware development center, and the company took a $170 million write down on the experiment in its 2014 Q3 financial report. The company's new plan sounds a lot like the Fire Phone, but Amazon would be letting someone else handle the hardware this time.

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