Visit our other websites:    On CE ... eSP ... Mobile Channels ... ECI news ... rAVe Europe ... Digital Signage News EMEA

WSJ: Amazon (Partly) Gives Up on Hardware

E-mail Print PDF

Following the failure of the Fire Phone Amazon gives up on mobile devices, the Wall Street Journal reports-- the online retailer turned hardware maker is reportedly killing projects and laying off staff from the secretive Lab126 hardware division.

Amazon BezosLab126 is the facility behind the Fire tablets, STB and phone, as well as the oddball Echo speaker/voice-activated assistant and the Dash product re-ordering button. According to the WSJ unsold Fire Phone inventory lead to a $170 million write down, meaning the creator has to not only scale down in size but also shelve some admittedly interesting-sounding projects.

Such projects include the Nitro (a smart stylus able to digitise handwritten notes into a shopping lists), the Shimmer (a projector) and  a 14-inch tablet dubbed Cairo.

Customers wanting more Amazon-made hardware should not lose hope though-- the WSJ says the company is still working on a tablet with a glasses-free 3D display (one different from that in the Fire Phone), a voice-controlled kitchen computer named Kabinet and batteries able to power Kindle eReaders for 2 years on a single charge.

A new phone might even be in the works, as one WSJ source says development was moved to the Amazon Seattle offices.

Go Amazon Curtails Development of Consumer Devices