[stevejabs]

Honestly, what would an Amazon branded Android experience bring to a smartphone? I suppose I could see why they released a tablet to support their Kindle line, but this doesn't make much sense to me.

They aren't even remotely winning in the tablet game either (<1% market penetration). The Nook is besting them for 4th place.

Obviously they make their money from their controlled store / experience, but does that make up for the difference in R&D and production costs yet?

source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405847,00.asp

[nzmsv]

Amazon already has agreements with many mobile providers around the world to supply data access for the Kindles. If their smartphone offered worldwide data roaming that did not cost an arm and a leg...

[eli]

This is not a trivial problem to solve and I'm not sure Amazon is especially well positioned to solve it. The cost is being driven in a large part by the networks you're roaming onto, not the company you've signed a contract with.

[jmduke]

Your analysis of the source is misleading. The statistic reported is that the Kindle Fire captured .71% of web traffic as recorded by Chikita, an ad network.

I'm not saying your conclusion is incorrect, but I'd like to see a more definitive statistic regarding market penetration. Overall, I agree; if Amazon's main goal is to drive content sales, I don't see why entering the smartphone market at this point is the best move.

[stcredzero]

if Amazon's main goal is to drive content sales, I don't see why entering the smartphone market at this point is the best move.

Mobile payments.