Amazon Set to Unvel Smartphone with 3D display Exclusively with AT&T

With Apple and Samsung the dominant U.S. smartphone providers, with 60 percent share and nearly 100 percent of the profits, any new provider has to ask itself what segment it has to create or capture to have a shot at success.

Amazon, certain to face skepticism about its prospects, appears ready to introduce a new smartphone of its own, exclusively on the AT&T network, and featuring a three-dimensional display as a unique feature.

To be sure, Amazon might always have been expected, if entering the smartphone business, to emphasize content, given its core business model. So the 3D feature, said to be usable without use of any special glasses, will cater to video content consumption and product sales, matching the content and product sales business model.

Few other smartphones have had such a specific positioning. One might argue Blackberry had an “email-optimized” approach.

Likewise, others had at least contemplated whether a “Skype-optimized” or “Facebook-optimized” approach might have appeal. Certainly a music-optimized approach has had appeal (“Beats”).

In many ways, a 3D approach might be said to be optimized for video content consumption. Whether Amazon will be successful is, of course, to be determined. But Amazon believes its Kindle strategy is working, allowing Amazon to sell more content. Fire TV is another move in that direction.

Clearly, Amazon hopes its smartphone strategy will work at least that well.