There are two big mythical beasts in the smartphone world that no one has ever seen: a vendor or carrier offering a completely free flagship smartphone and an Android handset from Amazon. So why not combine both rumors into one tantalizing report? That's what reporters Jessica Lessin and Amir Efrati did recently, but Amazon says it ain't gonna happen--at least not right now.
Reporting on Lessin's site on Friday, the two former Wall Street Journal scribes said Amazon was planning to release a high-end, off-contract smartphone for the amazingly low price of absolutely nothing.
A couple of days later, Amazon denied the rumors, according to a follow-up post by Efrati. Amazon told the duo it has no plans to release a smartphone in 2013, and even if it did launch a smartphone in the future, a theoretical Kindle Phone would not be free.
Non-denial denial
Amazon is not a company that is fond of speaking to the press or providing much comment beyond its press releases, so Amazon's correction to Lessin's and Efrati's reporting suggests the company feared that expectations of a free Amazon handset would spoil a possible smartphone launch sometime in the future.
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