Newsletter 
It is no secret that Amazon and Google are direct competitors. While their backgrounds differ somewhat, with one emerging primary as a retailer and the other as a search provider, the middle-ground between the two has been closing rapidly. One of the most obvious examples in the mobile sector of this, is the app stores that the two companies currently operate. In terms of Amazon’s App Store, this took on a new breath of new life recently when the company unveiled their Underground version which boasts an ability to offer a fairly large number of apps to consumers for free.
A report now emerging today from The Information states that this is just the beginning of Amazon’s next move into the mobile sector. According to the details, Amazon has been in talks with various Android smartphone manufacturers with a view to bringing to market a competitor smartphone which comes installed with Amazon’s services and apps at the “factory level“, one which is said to resemble the company’s popular Kindle Fire range of tablets. Of course, Amazon already does see some of its services as pre-installed apps on select devices, but the company is reportedly looking to take this further by offering a more substantial and comprehensive Amazon experience. A move which Amazon is said to hope will come at the expense of Google’s own services and apps that currently come pre-installed on most Android devices.
At the moment, nothing has been confirmed about the rumored talks and the information comes from people who have reportedly been “briefed on different aspects of the discussions at Amazon“. What is clear though, is that if the reports are true, than Amazon are looking to take their fight with Google to a much deeper level on Android devices. After the company’s initial attempt at the mobile sector, the Amazon Fire Phone, it could be that Amazon see a greater ability to penetrate the sector by offering their software services on non-Amazon manufactured devices instead. Of course, whether the unnamed third-party manufacturers who are said to be in talks with Amazon, also see the value in a deeper Amazon experience, remains to be seen.