Recently there have been a lot of rumors about a smart phone being designed by Amazon; however there hasn’t been an official acknowledgement of any such device from Amazon yet, there hasn’t even been a leak which could lend more credibility to the rumour. Now, new reports suggest that not only does this Amazon smart phone exist, but the company is trying to release it for free as well. This doesn’t just mean free on contract, but free without a contract too. A journalist from the Wall Street Journal has released the report, which states that Amazon plans to provide the phone free of cost to its users; however, it isn’t clear if the free phones are only meant for Amazon Prime subscribers.
The Samsung Galaxy Note II is available for a reduced sale price now starting at $149.
It isn’t known, however, whether the rumored phone will even make it to the market. It is being said that Amazon is in talks with carriers, although the company is likely to ultimately sell the smart phone directly through its own website. The company’s intentions of selling the phones for free also depend on the deals that Amazon is going to strike with the hardware manufacturer which makes the device. It is obvious that Amazon will want to undercut its competition to draw users into its ecosystem, as the company currently controls its own content and app stores. The last rumors about Amazon’s smart phones had also originated from Wall Street Journal and they talked of Amazon developing two different devices, one of which would come with a 3D display.
In other news, after T-Mobile announced 2nd October as the release date for the Samsung Galaxy Note III, Verizon and AT&T have now announced their own release dates as well. Both the the carriers have opened up the preorders for the device from today, and the latter is charging $299.99 for the device along with a two year contract or a monthly price of $35 with its AT&T Next service. Verizon has also pegged the phablet at $299.99 on a two year contract; the price with Verizon Edge is $29.16 per month.
AT&T has announced that it will start shipping the device from the 1st of October, whereas Verizon has announced a shipping date of October 10th. This leaves U.S. Cellular and Sprint as the two carriers which are yet to announce the launch dates for the Note III. The phone was released by Samsung at the IFA a couple of days ago.
The Samsung Galaxy Note II can be purchased at a discounted price tag now starting at $149.
