can't be anything but good for IDCC....
AT&T to Exclusively Carry Amazon Smartphone
Amazon Expected to Unveil its Phone on Wednesday in Seattle
By THOMAS GRYTA CONNECT
June 17, 2014 6:42 a.m. ET
AT&T Inc. T -0.14% will be the exclusive carrier for Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.41% 's new smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the plans.
The arrangement extends Amazon's relationship with AT&T, which also provides wireless service to Kindle tablets and e-readers. The move could help AT&T attract new subscribers at a time of intense competition among wireless carriers.
Apple Inc. AAPL +1.01% and Samsung Electronics Co. have a tight grip on the smartphone market in the U.S. with a combined 60% share in the first quarter, according to comScore Inc. SCOR -0.23% Rival devices from makers like BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T +0.12% and Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE +0.26% have seen their market share shrivel as they failed to keep up with technology.
Amazon hopes to distinguish its phone in a crowded market with a screen capable of displaying seemingly three-dimensional images without special glasses, according to a Wall Street Journal article citing people briefed on the plans. The phone would employ retina-tracking technology embedded in four front-facing cameras, or sensors, to make some images appear to be 3-D, similar to a hologram, according to the story.
Amazon is expected to introduce the device at an event in hometown Seattle Wednesday and has demonstrated versions of the handset to developers in San Francisco and Seattle. Amazon aims to begin shipping phones by the end of September, ahead of the holiday shopping season. The e-commerce giant is moving deeper into gadgets beyond its Kindle tablet, including the Fire TV set-top video streaming device and the smartphone.
AT&T had an exclusive arrangement with Apple Inc. when the iPhone was launched in 2007. That offering, which lasted more than three years, gave AT&T a crucial leg up against rival Verizon Wireless in the lucrative smartphone market.
—Greg Bensinger contributed to this article.
Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com
| 
