Amazon has sent media resources invitations to a press conference it will hold on Thursday, September 6, 2012. The company is expected to reveal a new lineup of e-book readers, tablets and maybe even give a glimpse onto its long-rumoured smartphone.

Quite naturally, Amazon does not reveal, what exactly it is going to talk about at the press conference, but given the fact that roughly a year ago (in late September, 2011) the company unleashed new versions of its electronic book readers as well as revealed its first media tablet, it is very likely that the world's largest Internet store will update its Kindle and Kindle Fire lineups.

What is really intriguing is whether Amazon will also unleash its first smartphone at the press conference. Earlier rumours suggested that the device is set to become available by the end of 2012, hence the event perfectly suits for its announcement.

Smartphone will be a logical addition to Amazon's existing gadget lineup that includes a 7" tablet as well as a family of e-book readers. Since Amazon does not need to make money on the device itself and will likely impose rather strict limitations in order to enforce customers to buy content or programs only from Amazon and thus maximize the company's profits. Still, thanks to those restrictions, the product will likely be very inexpensive.

Designing an own-brand handset is not something uncommon these days, at the end, it is possible to sell existing devices under own brand with pre-loaded exclusive software. In fact, Amazon has been cherry-picking patents on wireless technologies with the help of leading patent specialists in order to avoid patent wars with other players, such as Apple, Nokia and others. Such a cautious approach points to the fact that Amazon considers its smartphone seriously and probably wants to equip it with technologies that will either change the market or will affect it so seriously that the competitors would try to halt its sales. The approaches to Kindle and Kindle Fire were different.

Tags: Amazon, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Android, E-Book