Amazon's Kindle smartphone facing delays, to arrive after June
Sources at the "flat panel supply chain" have whispered that Amazon's much-rumored homebrew smartphone is facing delays.
Amazon had apparently been expecting to end the Engineering Verification Test (EVT) stage this quarter, and put the wheels in motion for retail production in Q2, but the assembler Ensky Tech and Amazon have run into platform development issues, and are likely to out the handset after the initial June timeframe.
The production of Amazon's much-fanfared smartphone is still under its engineering verification test (EVT) period due to issues related to its mobile platform, the sources indicated, adding that the development of the smartphone is being handled by FIH's subsidiary Ensky Tech, which has been responsible for the production of Amazon's e-book readers and tablets.
If software is the culprit for the release delay, one can reasonably expect that Amazon is planning to produce a highly-customized version of it that will peddle its own services, the way things are set up with the Kindle Fire, for instance, and there is a good possibility the phone will be sold at cost or subsidized, so we'll keep an ear to the ground for any further developments about Amazon's eventual foray into the smartphone business.
source: Digitimes
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