Black Friday hasn’t hit yet, nor has cyber Monday. But that’s not stopping Amazon.com from rolling out big discounts on smartphones. The online retailer has slashed prices on many popular Android devices to one penny (with a two-year contract).
The discount was first reported by the news site Launch, which noted in its headline “Bezos gone wild!”
And what can Amazon.com consumers actually buy for a penny?
The HTC Droid Incredible 2 on Verizon — which normally sells for $600 — and the Motrola Atrix 4G on AT&T — which has a retail price of $700 — and the Samsung Stratosphere 4G — which sells for $500 — are just a few that are being offered with the steep discount.
Amazon.com is accustomed to operating at low margins, and it certainly has shown an interest in recent months of taking on Apple head-on in mobile and tablets. In fact, at the WTIA predictions dinner that I moderated last week, panelist Dan Rosen suggested that Amazon.com would make a big push into the smartphone market.
“They can become the largest reseller of mobile phones, in no time,” said Rosen, suggesting that Amazon could take on Apple directly by releasing its own device.
UPDATE: Amazon isn’t the only company offering “penny deals” on new phones. AT&T is running a similar promotion.
