Wait, What !?! Amazon wants to make a Windows Phone?

November 18, 2011 | By Surur

When Nokia converted to Windows Phone it came as little of a surprise, given Stephen Elop’s last position at Microsoft.

This rumour from Forbes however comes as rather a larger bomb shell. Amazon has just released the Android powered Kindle Fire, but according to Forbes and their sources:

Channel checks suggest the Amazon smartphone will have a 4-inch touch panel display, an 8 mega pixel camera, and adopt a Microsoft operating system. The phone will probably run on a Texas Instruments OMAP4 processor and Qualcomm’s dual mode 6-series standalone baseband.

The actual source is Taipei-based Kevin Chang, Citi hardware research analyst. We think Kevin is probably mistaken, but if this is not the case it would be a major coup for Microsoft, given the large content ecosystem Amazon brings to the table.

What do our readers think? Has Kevin lost his marbles or have Steve Ballmer inherited Job’s Reality Distortion Field? Let us know below.

Via thevarguy.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged amazon, rumour, windows phone 7.5

Martyn Metalous

Really hope this is true, would be a major win for MS
http://twitter.com/jamesdax James Matthews

Sweet if true.
http://twitter.com/blakehaas blakehaas

I highly doubt this.
Anonymous

I hope this is not another case of a mix up!
http://twitter.com/sirleamont Cedric Tallichet

last week, market policy changed to accept emulators
this week, amazon phone with windows phone? (or maybe tablet with win8??)
next week, amazon emulator to be able to run android app from amazon market on amazon windows phone?!?

Martyn Metalous

That would be good

Anonymous

Had Amazon not just released an Android powered tablet I wouldn’t have ruled this out. It seems a bit far fetched at the moment though. Huge win if it turned out to be true.
Anonymous

Highly unlikely.. Because they can’t maintain two completely different ecosystems for tablet and phones.

Impartial

isnt that what MS and apple are doing right now? maintaining 2 ecosystems?

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZWIQU6F5MNQWGAIOKNHSCSJFDE Brian

Apple’s 2 ecosystems are very, very similar as far as developers are concerned – much more similar than say comparing WP7 development to Android. WP7 doesn’t make sense for Amazon.

http://twitter.com/KevDaly Kevin Daly

Apart from anything else I don’t see why Amazon would want to produce a phone – the tablet is an obvious tie-in to their core business, but a phone would be a significant investment and a lot of complications to deal with for what reason?
http://techin5.com Jubbin Grewal @Techin5.com

From a business perspective, where I can safely say I know, it’s a good advertising if more companies jump on the Windows Phone bangwagon. Even if Amazon never do make a phone, it’s worth noting that people will have realised that a company with Amazon’s stature (Android only right now, kernel wise) is thinking about WP7.

That might cause others to jump on that bangwagon as well, or at least consider it. Free advertising, more throwing the word out there. Especially with Nokia pushing SO hard in Europe, this could be the start of good things. Rumor or not, let it begin.
http://batmancorps.blogspot.com/ Jas Chiang

I think it’s a mistake

Amazon will pay MS “Android Patent Fees” bcs they will use Android for their Kindle Phone
Anonymous

I could see Amazon doing this simply to undercut the rest of the competition, making smartphones truly affordable to the masses. IF THAT IS THEIR GOAL, then making a smartphone makes sense because they have already declared war on Apple and Google with the Fire tablet. BUT, I don’t see them using MIcrosoft as the platform. Instead, I would think they might buy WebOS????? So, I believe 1/2 the story
Anonymous

Seems unlikely, but it’s not entirely outside the realm of possibility either. Amazon has a pretty solid presence on WP7 with their Kindle and shopping apps. I’d just be happy to see them bring a cloud player app to WP7 though.
Anonymous

This is extremely unlikely.
http://twitter.com/MaulerX MaulerX

Entirely possible. Microsoft has yet to announce a patent agreement with Amazon for the Kindle Fire, but that does not mean they aren’t working on it. Similar to Samsung’s agreement, what if Amazon using WP7 for this project is part of the deal?

http://twitter.com/oslicek David Petrla

Yes, this is the only possible benefit for Amazon I can imagine. Microsoft could just tell them: “We won’t sue you for Kindle Fire, if you release a WP phone.” $15 license would be extremely uncomfortable for a $199 device.

But I still consider it extremely improbable.

Anonymous

I find this hard to believe considering the Fire uses Android. But maybe they want to diversify and are thinking this also helps smooth over the patent issues with Microsoft. Then again my hunch is that maybe someone woke up on the wrong side of his OS understanding.
http://www.facebook.com/todor.tsvetkov Todor Tsvetkov

Huh nice
Anonymous

I call bluff ….mainly because Amazon is heavily into the bronze boy Android. if anything, it’ll be Android.
http://twitter.com/dustbeta Dustin Schultz

Well, it would make sense, being next door to Microsoft. I’d love it if Amazon went with Windows Phone. Personally, going Android is pushing me away from Amazon services.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZWIQU6F5MNQWGAIOKNHSCSJFDE Brian

Amazon might be interested in making a phone – but it would be a heavily customized Android phone (to match their tablet), not a WP7 phone. Don’t forget Amazon already has a very successful Android App store.
Sushant Sen

“have steve ballmer inherited…”….your grammar sucks….and you have no real technical knowledge to speak of…why do you bother writing for this blog ?

http://www.facebook.com/j.spanberg Johan Spånberg Svelander

What the f*ck kind of comment is that?

“why do you bother writing for this blog ?”
And then:
“I do appreciate the effort that goes into your job…the updates you guys bring forth are handy”

Have you ever heard of constructive critizism?

Sushant Sen

Johan,did you really understand the intent of my comment ? The first part of the comment was directed only at the author or this post for making the kind of mistake you wouldn’t expect from someone writing for this site.The latter was intended to convey that , while I appreciate the effort that goes into their job, the end product could use some improvement in quality.
P.S – It is spelled ‘criticism’.

Anonymous

Go somewhere else. I’ll talk a few friends into taking your place, and you will never be missed.

Sushant Sen

Why would you have to talk your friends into coming here when I have no real ‘place’ here to speak of ? I can leave and I am quite sure you don’t have to worry about ‘replacing’ me.

Anonymous

I highly doubt it. Amazon already has their own Android app store on top of having an Android tablet.

If this does happen, it’s because MS threw a LOT of money their way. Which admittedly is possible, but I find it unlikely.
Anonymous

fake
Anonymous

Bullshit
http://twitter.com/oslicek David Petrla

Wow, it will have this patented protection:

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2011-08/amazons-jeff-bezos-patents-cell-phone-propulsion-system-protect-dropped-gadgets

Finally a true competitive advantage.
Anonymous

Makes perfect sense to me… Microsoft has been fairly kind to Amazon’s marketplace reception with deep integration and other highlighting points. It makes sense that Amazon wants to continue its winning ways on the platform. I see a possible tablet or phone… Tablet makes better sense as it provides content consumption goodness – what Amazon really likes.
Anonymous

Maybe then Amazon will actually release an Audible player for Windows Phone.
Anonymous

I don’t know. This sounds like a huge long shot. Amazon has shown with their Kindle Tablet that they want to control the experience. That’s why they basically forked Android. Let’s face it, with Windows Phone you pretty much go for the stock experience, or you don’t go for anything, because there is not much room for customization. Don’t get me wrong though, I would love Amazon to bring a nice affordable Windows Phone.
Anonymous

I only see this if somehow Zune and Amazon’s marketplace get combined or work together in the future.
Anonymous

OK… I’ve taken the time to read all of the comments up to the time I post it and I feel I need to bring up one point that everyone has missed so far. Windows 8 and its Marketplace. I agree Amazon to date has primarily invested on the mobile side with Android, but as Windows 8 gets closer to market, What better avenue would Amazon have to broaden their market than to be part of the Marketplace? Think about it. Microsoft just got out of an Anti-Trust situation that terribly hindered their plans to integrate and broaden their services. We are just now seeing what combining those services will become. Maybe they decided to approach Amazon (and possibly others) to add or supplement the Windows 8 Marketplace to avoid another Anti-Trust lawsuit. It might also be part of the agreement where they don’t get sued by MS for patent infringement.

rsgx

Great point of view.

Andre

When I heard of a phone that Amazon would release, I said it was entirely plausible. It would be impossible to undercut the competition in price with a dual core required processor to run any android platform. If the plan on being cheap, single core is the way, as with the Fire. Currently iOS and Windows Phone are the only ones that can run perfectly on single core. However, I’m curious as to how Amazon plans to get their services expanded to it’s fullest without an open platform–that is, without Nokia benefits.
http://twitter.com/counterblow the person

I’m still trying to figure out why Amazon would need a phone. Most of the content they want to peddle is best displayed on a tablet sized device. I don’t really see Amazon wanting to be in the OS maintenance game, so that would be a benefit to them to let Microsoft manage that. I think they also see the deep partnership deal Nokia made and may be thinking that would work well for them. But in the end I still don’t see why they would want a phone.
Anonymous

This would make Amazon my new best friend.
Anonymous

It’s probably just branding on an existing phone (like the LG Jil Sander) with some Amazon apps or maybe a hub added to the package
Anonymous

So that’s how this rumor started, some analyst said it will run a Microsoft OS.
Amazon is about selling content, they already have Kindle for all platforms, now they want to sell music, movies and apps. which they can easily do on Android, just take that open source code and release it with their own apps instead of the Google apps.
I can’t see them releasing a windows phone without Zune or with their own app sore, even Nokia didn’t get that. Why would MS let Amazon do that? it goes against everything WP is.

I really see Amazon getting more into devices with their own flavored android OS, don’t see why they’d go with windows phone (even though it’s a better OS)

Also, paying MS 15$ on a 200$ device is a lot, but they’re not planning on making money from the devices, it’s all about the media/app sales later.
Hassan

I’m rarely a user of Amazon and its products but after seeing all the hype happening these days with the launch of the Kindle Fire, I believe an Amazon WP (if it’s coming) is going to be HUGE!
http://www.facebook.com/juraj.benak Juraj Benak

I doubt that it’ll be based on WP. why? Ms is trying to push its own store, Zune. why should it allow another player to interfere with it? In order to spread the device, fair enough, but MS also wants some cash obviously. ANother thing is that Amazon would have to change the look of it so it’s similar to everything else they do (at least that’s what I’d do) but then noone knows it’s WP!

It just doesn’t make sense. If anything, it’ll be Android – they already worked on it for Fire.