Amazon plans smartphone comeback after Fire Phone flop

IN 2014, AMAZON introduced its first smartphone, hoping to take on Apple and Samsung.

- GREG BENSINGER

Instead, the Fire Phone - overseen directly by founder Jeff Bezos - was scrapped in barely over a year, one of Amazon's highest-profile flops.

Now, Amazon is dialing up a new phone.

The latest effort, known internally as “Transformer,’ is being developed within its devices and services unit, according to four people familiar with the matter. The phone is seen as a potential mobile personalization device that can sync with home voice assistant Alexa and serve as a conduit to Amazon customers throughout the day, the people said. The initiative is the newest chapter in a years-long effort to bring to market Bezos’ long-held vision of a ubiquitous voice-driven computing assistant akin to the voice-controlled computer in science fiction series “Star Trek.”