COMING SOON: An Amazon Smartphone?

The smartphone hardware business is a tough racket, especially because most mobile phones in the U.S. are sold at carrier stores and kiosks, and not purchased online. But it’s worth noting Amazon’s strong (and unique) advantage in hardware merchandizing: It already sells physical goods. To everyone. From shoes to cameras to camping stoves, it’s probably the world’s most trusted source in online sales, and, just as it does with the Kindle Fire, it can push an advertisement for an Amazon smartphone to everyone who hits its front page.

It’s a marketing advantage that no one can touch.

An Amazon smartphone — fully integrated with Amazon storefront features — would also fit nicely into the company’s stacked ecosystem. The Kindle Fire does a fine job of goosing digital download sales, but it’s not the device consumers carry all the time. The Fire isn’t always within arm’s reach. So imagine, instead, a truly mobile hardware device that would provide dead-simple hooks into the Amazon buying experience, 24-7.

Well, the phone world is overdue for a shakeup.