If the rumors are to be believed, we could be seeing a new player in the testy smartphone market. Taiwan Economic News reports that Amazon has put in a 5-million-unit order for a brand new smartphone model due for release sometime in 2013.

Not much is known right now besides the potential release window, and a price range between $100 to $200. It might sound strange at first to hear that Amazon is planning enter the market, but they actually have a pretty good shot at this. The company has a strong ecosystem of content already in place, one that rivals or even surpasses Apple’s in terms of content. They also have experience in building hardware through the Kindle devices, with many of those recent models being very solidly designed. The question that remains now is an important, however, and it’s if they can compete in app selection. Apple’s App Store is far and away the industry leader at the moment, Google right behind them and Microsoft only just beginning with Windows Phone. They can take a big step if they decide to utilize Android apps on their device, and then implementation will be key. All that won’t matter if the phone itself isn’t up to snuff, so Amazon can’t afford to skimp on the hardware just for the sake of price.

Would you be interested in an Amazon Phone? Let us know in the comments!

[via Taiwan Economic News]