Amazon has discontinued further development of its own smartphone Fire Phone and fired a few dozen engineers involved in the creation of the device. This was reported by the newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Its first smartphone, Amazon has officially unveiled in June of last year. The presentation was held by founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. The device has a 4.7-inch display, protected by Gorilla glass, 13-megapixel camera and a 3D interface. According to Amazon, the phone is optimized for one-hand use. Bezos stressed that the company has spent considerable time on the design of the device.
The reductions in Amazon said the sources familiar with the situation in the laboratory Lab126. Under this name it is known the unit manufacturer, specializing in the creation of new devices. It is alleged that the company “put the Fire Phone on the shelf” and abandoned plans to set up its enlarged version in the form of a tablet with a large screen. The laboratory previously for 11 years, never falling under reduction, was reorganized.
Laboratory Lab126 was established in 2004. Over the past year the division has released a total of ten gadgets, including smart music Echo column, as well as Android TV set-top box Fire TV.
Amazon has officially refused to comment on the situation around the Fire Phone. According to the newspaper, earlier it became known about leaving Lab126 chief engineer John McCormack, who had obtained a position at Google.
