When Amazon introduced its Fire Phone, in 2014, that first attempt at a mobile phone of its own was so poorly received the company stopped selling it only a year later. According to Reuters, that’s not stopping the retail giant from trying again.

Amazon is reportedly developing a mobile device that would sync with its existing ecosystem of software and hardware, including Alexa-based smart hubs and its Prime Video TV service.

The project, referred to internally as “Transformer,” could still be in the early stages, according to Reuters. At this moment, there’s no word on a possible release timeframe or much information on what would differentiate the phone from devices it would compete with like those from Apple and Samsung. 

The Amazon phone would focus on AI features rather than app downloads, according to the sources cited in the report. Perhaps inevitably, the device would also be designed to make it easy to buy products from Amazon and to use its services, including Prime Video and Prime Music. The voice assistant Alexa would not be the primary operating system driving the phone, Reuters’ sources said.

Amazon is also rumored to be developing an Android tablet, which would be a break from the tablets it sells running its own Fire OS software.  

A representative for Amazon declined to comment on the report.

Avoiding the Fire Phone’s mistakes

In her 2014 review of Amazon’s Fire Phone, CNET’s Jessica Dolcourt gave the phone 6.9 points out of 10, calling it “daring, aspirational and pleasing to use,” but noted its suboptimal price, performance and specs. 

“You need to be all-in on the Amazon ecosystem to fully appreciate it, and even then, it’s not delivering a lot of Amazon features that you can’t get on rival products,” Dolcourt wrote at the time.

So what could Amazon do differently this time to ensure it doesn’t have another flop on its hands? 

“Amazon proved it can put its name behind electronics at a consumer-friendly price,” says Dolcourt, now a vice president of content at CNET Group. “The harder part is to create a compelling phone that people actually want to use. It’s not enough for a few perks to tie back to a juggernaut platform — it has to deliver as a standalone device.”

Whether Amazon has learned from its mistakes and can make a phone capable of challenging industry leaders such as Apple and Samsung remains to be seen. 

“The idea that Amazon would want to get into the intensely competitive mobile devices market is surprising,” said Ben Wood, a mobile industry expert and chief marketing officer at CCS Insight.

However, Wood pointed out that the head of Amazon’s devices division, Panos Panay, has been aggressively driving forward its product integrations. 

“The company is making a significant investment in its voice assistant with the launch of Alexa Plus, and additional consumer touchpoints could be advantageous,” Wood said.