Amazon Considering to Offer Its Rumoured Smartphone for Free

Amazon aims high in the skyrocketing smartphone market and plays hard: in an unprecedented move, it plans to offer its long-rumoured smartphone for free, former WSJ reporter Jessica Lessin reports.

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Citing people familiar with Amazon’s effort, Lessin says the company already has started negotiations with carriers about offering the hardware, but offering through its website would also be a viable scenario.

With smartphone prices already recording a 20% drop, according to IDC, cited by Lessin, Apple’s worst nightmare may come true: prices will fall in an accelerated pace and this will affect high-end smartphone prices as well.

In the fight for the high-end market, both Apple and Samsung have packed their smartphones with features to justify their price, Lessin says. But Amazon’s move would be a game changer: the new players such as the online retail giant, and search giant Google are willing to sacrifice profit for the sake of market share.

There are lots of open questions surrounding the Amazon smartphone. Just to name a few: whether Amazon will require a service payment such as Amazon Prime. A second one is related to Amazon’s ability to work out financial agreements with hardware partners. The list goes on, and because there is no estimated launch date, the online retail giant has plenty of time to find an answer to all of them.

Would you jump into a free Amazon smartphone deal?

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