Amazon said to be developing glasses-free 3D smartphone

amazon phone

Now that Facebook has finally fulfilled the prophecies, and entered the smartphone market, all eyes are on Amazon. The online retail giant has also long been rumored to be looking to get into the space with its own handset.

And today comes a new report that adds weight to the story. Citing sources familiar with the company’s plans, The WSJ says Amazon is working on a number of new hardware products, including a glasses-free 3D smartphone…

From The Wall Street Journal:

“The Seattle e-commerce giant has recently been developing a wide-ranging lineup of gadgets—including two smartphones and an audio-only streaming device—to expand its reach beyond its Kindle Fire line of tablet computers, said people familiar with the company’s plans.

One of the devices is a high-end smartphone featuring a screen that allows for three-dimensional images without glasses, these people said. Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles, they said. Users may be able to navigate through content using just their eyes, two of the people said.”

Amazon is also rumored to be working on a streaming music player—an iPod-like device with built-in Wi-Fi (and possibly 3G) for streaming music from its servers—and an Apple TV-like set topbox for its On Demand service.

The Journal says that it’s not clear what Amazon’s lineup of devices will be called or at what prices the company will sell them. But looking at its current Kindle tablets, it will likely sell them at cost and look to profit on services.

Amazon apparently plans to release some of these products in the coming months. If true, the fall is shaping up to be very exciting. Apple is also expected to release a bevy of devices in the third quarter, including its new iPhone 5S.

Glasses-free 3D smartphone? What do you make of all this?