• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, July 6, 2012

To more directly distribute its massive media store, Amazon.com is reportedly working on an Android-based smartphone.
 
“A smartphone would give Amazon a wider range of low-priced hardware devices that bolster its strategy of making money from digital books, songs and movies,” Bloomberg reports, citing sources.
 
Comments 9to5Google: “Amazon has its own series of content and distribution channels, including cloud services for downloading media, like movies and books, making their Amazon phone an obvious competitor to Apple’s iPhone, and its portfolio of media content stores like the iTunes Store and iBookstore.”
 
“It would help Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos -- who made a foray into tablets with the Kindle Fire -- carve out a slice of the market for advanced wireless handsets,” Bloomberg adds.  
 
“Amazon first got into the hardware business with its Kindle e-ink readers,” AppleInsider recalls. “The company then lit up the low-end tablet market with its Kindle Fire late last year. Sales of the Fire got off to a lively start, but they have since cooled off considerably.”
 
Late last year, CNet suggested it was only a matter of time before Amazon got into the smartphone business.
 
Yet, “we're not getting too excited right away,” Engadget writes regarding the latest reports. “We've been down this road before with that Vizio Phone that never appeared. Amazon certainly has the infrastructure to enter the cellphone market with its appstore and media delivery services, but is anyone ready to jump into a two-year contract on a (presumably) reskinned-Android device?”