Amazon To Develop 3D Smartphone With Retina-Tracking Technology

Amazon may be adding something very new and very advanced to its tech lineup of e-readers and tablets - a Smartphone with a 3D screen. The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon may introduce two new smartphones and a purely audio device that streams music. One of the Amazon smartphones is high-end option that offers a glasses-free 3D experience. The other remains a mystery, but is assumed to be a traditional smart phone design.

Rumors that Amazon had been developing a smartphone have circulated for a while, but what really made things come to a head was the hire of Windows Phone developer Charlie Kindel. Kindel has mentioned that Android's fragmentation problem opened up the opportunity for other phone developers to innovate, according to TechCrunch.

Amazon may be doing just that.

In an interview with AllThingsD last fall, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said, "We will certainly - not any time soon - but next year" expand Amazon's hardware lineup. Bezos continued, "We have some more things that we hope people will enjoy. It's premature for me to talk about them."

The 3D smartphone is expected to use a retina-tracking technology to present a holographic image, without 3D glasses, that hovers over the screen. It sounds more like a scene from Star Wars than a legitimate 2013 technology.

However, new devices are being created that don't fit into the smartphone-tablet genre. Google glass is one such example, as are the Chromebook Pixel and the rumored Apple smart watch.

So, perhaps we can expect a holographic Princess Leia to pop out of our Amazon smartphone and claim, "You're our only hope..." within the next few months.

Amazon's other smartphone could appeal to a mass market. These devices could launch within the next few months, according to the WSJ. But, the 3D screen devices may be shelved if there isn't a perceived market for them. 

Amazon hasn't yet respond to any request for comment.