Amazon cutting back on making consumer devices, reports WSJ

Rob Beschizza 6:55 am Thu Aug 27, 2015

amazonfire

After failed smartphones and other gadgets, Amazon's laying off people who work on consumer electronics.

Amazon.com Inc. flamed out with critics and consumers last year in its first attempt at a smartphone. Now, rather than forge ahead, as it has with other projects, such as its Kindle tablets, the online retailer is retrenching.

In recent weeks Amazon has dismissed dozens of engineers who worked on its Fire phone at Lab126, its secretive hardware-development center in Silicon Valley, according to people familiar with the matter.

For Amazon to quit, it must be very sure there's no place for it in whatever business it's muscled in on.

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