Amazon tries to break from pack with 3D-ready 'Fire' phone

Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos unveiled a "Fire" smartphone on Wednesday equipped with a 3D-capable screen and the ability to recognise objects, music and TV shows, hoping to stand out in a crowded field dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.

Bezos, in a rare media appearance, demonstrated three-dimensional display features on the 4.7-inch gadget, such as greater depth perception in maps and pictures. Four front-facing cameras track head movements and can shift perspectives depending on a user's activity.

A "Firefly" feature lets users point their phone at an object, such as a food product, or direct it to "listen" to a song or TV show. If the device recognises that item, the user can buy it off Amazon.com, if available.

Initial responses to the phone were positive. Shares of Amazon climbed 2.5 percent to $333.67 in the afternoon, from roughly flat before Bezos took the stage.

"What if there were a thousand artists standing by to redraw the picture every time you moved your head?" Bezos remarked to hundreds of Amazon customers, reporters and industry executives gathered in Seattle for the unveiling.

The smartphone joins Amazon's "Fire" lineup of tablets and streaming devices. It represents the latest attempt to extend its dominance of online commerce into mobile phones, which are increasingly being used to buy items and view video.

It's unclear how "Firefly" or the 3D-perspectives will function in the real world, or how fickle consumers will take to them. Industry insiders had expected the "Fire" to be priced far cheaper than the top-selling iPhone and Galaxy devices, after the company sold its Kindle Fire tablets at cost.

Amazon is selling the Fire smartphone for $649 without a contract on its website. From July 25, a 32-gigabyte storage version will sell for $199.99 with a two-year contract on exclusive carrier AT&T Inc.

That's comparable to the iPhone 5C, though Apple's cheaper smartphone sports superior displays and other features.

A phone would represent another new area for Amazon, which got its start selling books and has since expanded into everything from original shows to grocery delivery. It could also boost adoption of a payments platform.

A phone would be the third new device Amazon has introduced this year, after its FireTV streaming device and Dash grocery-ordering wand. In recent years, the company has moved more aggressively into hardware, selling its devices at cost in hopes of spurring purchases on Amazon's website.

Its entry to the market reflects how smartphones and tablets are fast becoming how many consumers view and buy items online. Mobile commerce grew at almost twice the rate of online retail during the first quarter, according to comScore.

Amazon may find more opportunity outside the United States. Only 30 percent of the 5.2 billion phones on the market are smartphones, analysts estimate.