Amazon already has big box stores scrambling to compete with its massive online business, and now it seems the company might be gearing up to terrify smartphone makers with its own device. A new report claims the retailer will be debuting a device sometime in the middle of next year. It’ll be manufactured by Foxconn and go for between $100-$200.

Taiwan Economic News (via the Los Angeles Times) says Foxconn, which makes many Apple products and parts like the iPhone, will ship as many as five million units of the new device in the year.

This isn’t much of a surprise to anyone who’s been keeping an eye on Amazon’s move into the mobile device business. The company built upon the success of its first, most simple versions of the Kindle e-reader and has found huge success with its Kindle Fire tablet.

It’s sort of like how Apple started off with the iPod, primed its customers for video with the iPod video and iPod Nano and followed with the iPhone and iPod Touch. You’ve gotta work your way up to this sort of thing, and in the meantime, build your customer base. It’ll be interesting to see if Amazon will subsequently stop selling other companies’ smartphones on its site when it has a product in direct competition.

Amazon readying smartphone for mid-2013 launch? [Los Angeles Times]
Foxconn Allegedly Manufacturing Amazon’s Smartphone Model [Taiwan Economic News]

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