Just a few days after the Kindle Fire tablet launched, it was speculated that Amazon could be looking to launch a smartphone. The rumor even gave a concrete timeframe: Q4 2012. Amazon’s success with the Kindle and now the Kindle Fire would suggest the retail giant has a chance to drum up quite a bit of hype around a phone, although of course it’s way too early to say whether such a device would be a success, especially given the very saturated smartphone market.

Meanwhile, a possible Facebook phone has been rumored for years, and is constantly being delayed. The social networking giant has repeatedly denied such reports and the company insists that it will not launch an official Facebook phone. Instead, Menlo Park says it is perfectly happy with manufacturers using the company’s public APIs to release more and more Facebook-integrated devices.

So, how do the two compare? Baird Equity (via AllThingsD) recently surveyed 875 consumers about both possible devices. As you can see in the chart above, 42 percent of those polled said they were either “very interested” or “interested” in an Amazon phone, while just 12 percent said they were “very interested” or at least “interested” in a Facebook phone. These numbers will of course change if these rumored devices are ever unveiled, but right now it makes sense that they are so low: Amazon is just getting started in the mobile industry and Facebook doesn’t build any hardware whatsoever.

My last poll showed that ZDNet readers are not really interested in a Facebook phone. Only three percent said “Yes, definitely.” they would buy one, 21 percent said “Maybe, depends on the features and specs.” and the remaining 76 percent answered “No, absolutely not.”

Now I’m giving you just two choices:

Right now it looks like Amazon and Facebook don’t stand a chance against Samsung, Apple, HTC, Google, or even RIM/Microsoft/Nokia, but the mobile industry has been flipped upside down many times before. When it comes to new phones, you just never know.

See also:

Biography

Emil Protalinski

Emil Protalinski has covered the tech industry for five years for multiple publications, including Neowin for two years and Ars Technica for three years. He has written 1,000s of articles for both, with a particular focus on scrutinizing Microsoft products and services. Recently, Emil has expanded his coverage to non-Microsoft technologies, including the social networking giant Facebook.