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Online giant Amazon is close to finalising a deal to move into contract phones, Mobile has learned.
The launch is expected to give the retailer an edge over other non-specialists that have concentrated on prepay. The online retailer said it aimed to get a distribution partner for a new contract push confirmed in the next month.
Amazon UK boss Brian McBride (pictured), a former MD of T-Mobile, told Mobile: 'Prepay is not a big focus for us; it's at the lower end of the food chain. We're still looking at building a contract offering and we hope to get a partner in the next month.'
Bookseller Amazon has already had a massive impact on the electronics market since it entered in 2001.
Dextra supplies Woolworths' mobile website and is thought to be a likely candidate for Amazon's business. A Woolworths spokesman said: 'It's no surprise that Amazon is entering the contract phones market. We see it as very important to be in the market, competing and offering our online customers some of the best deals. I expect Amazon feels exactly the same.'
An Amazon supply contract would be a significant boost to 20:20, Unique or Data Select. Data Select MD George McPherson said: 'We're talking to them, but that's all I can say.' Another distribution source said: 'Nothing has been finalised; Amazon will be talking to other distributors too.'
Amazon currently lists around 300 prepay handsets on its site, most of them Nokia phones at between £50 and £100. The current bestseller is the blue Nokia 2310 on O2. One industry observer said: 'Their prepay business has gone backwards and has been pretty low end.'
It is believed that Amazon is currently working out the finer details of how to sign up and retain quality customers to contracts online.
The move into contract follows last month's closure of The Carphone Warehouse's CPW Partners business, which supplied handsets to Sainsbury's, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Amazon and Play.com. McBride said the decision by Carphone to pull out of the business was 'no surprise to us'. 'We have other plans with other suppliers such as 20:20, so this wasn't a big deal.'
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Posted: 2007-05-10 17:36:50
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