Amazon 'to release smartphone later this year'

 Amazon is preparing to release a smartphone in the second halfof 2014, thrusting itself into a market already crowded with Apple and Samsungmodels, The Wall Street Journal reported.The company aims to announce its new product by the end of June and ship tocustomers by the end of September in time for the holidays, the Journal said in aFriday report, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter.Amazon, it said, hopes to differentiate its phone from other models with a screenthat displays hologram-like three-dimensional images, which can be viewed withoutspecial glasses.The company has been showing versions of the phone to developers in San Francisco and Seattle, the sources said.Earlier this month the retailer unveiled a new media streaming device, Amazon FireTV, which it touted as simplifying the experience of watching video online.The new device is part of Amazon's strategy to expand from retail to multimedia,leveraging its Kindle tablets and streaming video.The smartphone market is currently dominated by rivals Samsung and Apple as wellas low-cost Chinese rivals like Lenovo and Huawei.