Amazon Is Being a Big Tease About Its 3-D Smartphone, May Reveal It June 18

It's like nothing we've ever seen before! Wait, we've never seen it.

learn more about Kim Lachance Shandrow

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Amazon wants you to get all lathered up about its fancy new 3-D smartphone. The ecommerce powerhouse may or may not unveil it on June 18 in its home city of Seattle.

So far, the build up to the release is quite the big tease and, judging by today's headlines, it's working.

The company's teaser video for the launch event is titled "Find out what these Amazon customers are talking about," but never actually shows what they're talking about. It's a 50-second parade of people ooh-ing and ahh-ing at something apparently awesome off screen, which we assume is Amazon's 3-D wonder. Or maybe not.

Related: Where E-Commerce Is Booming. Hint: Think Outside the U.S. (Infographic)


Mum's still the word for now. Amazon representatives are playing coy, skirting confirmation of rumors that a geeky-cool 3-D smartphone is indeed what the company will show off at its upcoming launch party. If it does show off its long-rumored glasses-free 3-D handset, the device would reportedly be the first of its kind. It would also be Amazon's first stab at creating a smartphone.

Whatever the "customers" (who knows if they're actors, real customers or beta testers) in the sizzle reel are making wide eyes and smiles at in the video, Amazon apparently wants us to think it's like nothing we've ever seen before.

They beat the horse dead: Three people in the clip deliver sound bites as if on-cue, chirping slight variations of "I've never seen anything like this before!" Others sway from side to side while gazing likely at the mystery device, perhaps hinting that the new gadget features eye-tracking and tilt sensors. One woman says, "It moved with me."

Related: Report: As Negotiations Falter, Amazon Takes Aim at Publishing Giant Hachette

"It," whatever it is, we'd like to remind you, is still just stuff. An object. Stay calm, people.

Curious? For now you'll have to wait and see what all the fuss is about, that is unless you get picked to attend the unveiling. If you'll be in the Emerald City in just shy of two weeks, you might want to request an invite.

The unusual invite request page asks whether applicants are customers, developers or journalists, though, oddly, you don't have to be any of those to apply. Anyone can put in their pitch for why Amazon should pick them to attend the release event, which CEO Jeff Bezos will definitely be on hand for.

Amazon encourages applicants to include 30-second videos spelling out why they want be there. Yeah, you have to really want it, people. What?! Since when do we have to audition for corporate product launches?

Related: Amazon's New Twitter Hashtag Puts Items in Your Shopping Cart

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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