Amazon is widely expected to debut its very first smartphone tomorrow, and if you like the new device you'll have to get it through AT&T, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the plans, on Tuesday reported that AT&T will be the exclusive carrier for the rumored handset. An AT&T spokesman declined to comment on the report.
The news might be giving you flashbacks to when the iPhone launched back in 2007. At the time, AT&T had an exclusive agreement with Apple to sell the phone, much to the dismay of customers of other carriers. That arrangement lasted for more than three years before Verizon broke AT&T's exclusive hold on the iPhone in 2011.
Meanwhile, rumors about an Amazon smartphone date back to 2011. Thus far, Amazon has stuck to tablets and e-readers, but time and again, reports about an Amazon phone have made headlines. Things really ramped up in April 2013 when former Windows Phone executive Charlie Kindel was hired by Amazon to work on "something secret," according to Kindel's LinkedIn profile at the time.
According to a separate Journal report, Amazon's phone will have a screen capable of displaying 3D images without special glasses. The phone will reportedly have four front-facing cameras with so-called retina-tracking technology to make some images appear in a 3D-like a hologram.
With the phone set to make its debut this week, Amazon yesterday touted its Appstore selection, noting it has "nearly tripled" in the past year to more than 240,000 apps and games.
This would not be the first time that Amazon teamed up with AT&T. The company sells a 4G LTE version of its Kindle Fire HDX tablets via AT&T, though Verizon is also an option.
PCMag will be at Amazon's big media event in Seattle tomorrow, so check back then for all the news.