On Friday we reported that former Wall Street Journal writer Jessica Lessin heard that Amazon was planning to introduce a smartphone that would cost nothing, without a contract.

"The free strategy isn’t set in stone," Lessin wrote, but if Amazon could pull it off, it would be offering something its competitors don’t: freedom from contracts without a price premium. At the time, the reporter was unclear on whether Amazon would require anything of its customers, such as a subscription to Amazon Prime.

However, now there's a clear resolution. Amazon responded to Lessin's request for comment this weekend, telling a colleague that it had no plans to launch a smartphone this year. The company went on to say that even if it did, the phone "would not be free."

Seems like that puts an end to this murmur.