Amazon is reportedly developing a new smartphone, internally known as "Transformer," named after its predecessor, the Fire Phone, which had an inferior app store experience and was part of a fire sale a year later. The retailer's previous model had several issues, including an underperformance of the app store and lack of support for Google Play services. However, the Amazon AppStore was a wasteland of half-supported or unsupported apps, with only two notable exceptions being productivity apps and streaming apps. The decision to forego Google Play Services could jeopardize Amazon's chances of succeeding is a crucial mistake the company made in its first attempt to build a smartphone in 2026. If successful, Amazon should embrace Google services and be a phone that everyone can use.