SEATTLE — Online retail giant, Amazon.com, said on Sunday (Sept 8) that it will not launch a smartphone this year, and that if it did launch one in the future, it “would not be free.”

Wall Street Journal reporters, Mr Amir Efrati and Ms Jessica E Lessin, reported on Sept 6 that Amazon, which makes the hugely popular Kindle e-reader, will launch a smartphone in 2013, and that the gadget was free of charge via its website, citing people with knowledge of the company’s smartphone development efforts.

Amazon has long been rumoured to be developing a smartphone that will run on a variant of the Kindle Fire’s Android-based operating system, and compete with Apple iPhone and devices that run Google Android, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer that makes the iPhone for Apple, is reportedly working with Amazon on the device, Citigroup analysts said in 2011 that the company could sell its smartphone at a loss - as it does with the Kindle Fire.

In April, Amazon hired former Windows Phone boss Mr Charlie Kindel for an undisclosed project, raising expectations that the company was making a phone.

“Amazon presented an opportunity to build something new that has ginormous potential. I simply couldn’t pass the opportunity up,” he told GeekWire at the time.

His LinkedIn page stated that he was “hiring cloud and mobile developers and testers, programme managers, and product managers”. AGENCIES