Amazon already makes tablets, so why not smartphones? Taiwan Economic News claims the online retailer is set to launch such a device sometime "between Q2 and Q3 2013."
According to the source Amazon already has a manufacturer, Foxconn, and plans to ship around 5 million units of the unconfirmed device by 2013's end. Ambitious! Apparently Foxconn needed big pay day after major customers (chiefly Nokia) were bested by the competition.
Other Taiwanese parts suppliers, including J Touch and Young Fast Optoelectrics, might also get a slice of the Amazon smartphone pie.
If Amazon does get to make a smartphone it will likely repeat the Kindle eReader/tablet pricing strategy, with a price set at around $100-$200.
Taiwan Economic News also says Amazon is working on the next Kindle Fire tablet generation, with Quanta and Compal supplying parts.
