Will an Amazon Smartphone Destroy BlackBerry and Windows Phones?

Consumer Electronics

Published: June 5, 2014 2:05 pm

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is supposed to be releasing a new smartphone on June 18, 2014. At least that is what is being speculated after the company sent out invites on Twitter for a special event on that date. The question is how Amazon can compete in the space, and who it is going after. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are almost certainly too entrenched to bet crushed here.

This leaves Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) as the most likely targets. There is enough room for more than two players in the smartphone world, but there may not be enough room for one more smartphone maker, if you consider the fate of other smartphone makers.

At Microsoft, Satya Nadella is gunning for mobile and cloud. The Nokia handset acquisition has yet to generate any significant market share wins for the company. It will take time, assuming it works. Microsoft has so many areas to focus on in its turnaround that smartphones may or may not even matter ahead in the grand scheme of things.

BlackBerry phones are effectively now being outsourced. John Chen has helped the company to narrow its focus, but the reality is that the stock is still around $7.65, and many still wonder how it can compete in the new world of smartphones. In fact, analysts are so mixed on the stock that you rarely hear anything of substance from them anymore.

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There is also of course Samsung as another player, making its move with and without Google for Android. HTC is there too. So, what can Jeff Bezos bring to the table with a smartphone?

A Yahoo! Finance breakout signals that the rumored smartphone could have a form of 3D enable with multiple cameras. Maybe it is to tie into the Fire TV box. Whatever the deal is, the real issue is which company or two companies are being marked for death by Amazon here.

Jeff Bezos has already shown over and over that profits do not matter any time soon, as long as the company can grab more and more market share in whatever market it is targeting. It has targeted Apple in tablets via the Kindle and it has targeted cable companies and anyone else in content with Fire TV. These initiatives are not free to the company, and it will take some time to figure out who wins and loses here.

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Bezos is targeting someone here. If it is a smartphone, then it is likely that it will be Microsoft or BlackBerry. Now we just have to see what the actual launch is.

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