How’s this for a crazy story? The Wall Street Journal reports today that Amazon.com is working on “a high-end smartphone featuring a screen that allows for three-dimensional images without glasses.”
The report is a surprise because Amazon has been focusing more on lower-cost hardware that it can sell at or near cost, undercutting its competitors while aiming to make money instead from the sale of e-books, streaming movies and other forms of content.
The WSJ cautions that the 3D smartphone hardware might still be shelved, but if it does make it to market, it would be a major departure for the company.
Here’s how the Journal describes the technology: “Using retina-tracking technology, images on the smartphone would seem to float above the screen like a hologram and appear three-dimensional at all angles, they said. Users may be able to navigate through content using just their eyes, two of the people said.”
It sounds in part like the Nintendo 3DS, which could be a cautionary tale for Bezos & Co.
The WSJ and Bloomberg BusinessWeek previously reported that Amazon is also working on a set-top box for streaming video. The Journal reports today that Amazon is also working on two smartphones and an audio-streaming device.
