Our guest on this special mid-week episode of the GeekWire Podcast is Panos Panay, Amazon’s senior vice president of Devices and Services, a longtime leader in the world of consumer technology.
It has been one year since he started at Amazon, after his surprise departure from Microsoft, where he oversaw products including Surface and Windows.
Panay’s division at Amazon includes the Alexa voice assistant and Echo devices, but that’s just the start. His purview also spans Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Zoox self-driving taxis, Eero wireless networking devices, Ring and Blink cameras, Fire TV devices, and Kuiper, the company’s nascent satellite internet business.
The focus this week is Kindle, with the Oct. 30 release of the Kindle Colorsoft, the first color device in Amazon’s line of market-leading e-readers, selling for a premium price of $279.99.
It’s part of a new era for the Kindle business, driven in part by book-loving social media influencers and consumers looking for simplicity and focus in a world of non-stop smartphone alerts.
We also talked about AI, including the generative AI summaries coming with the next-generation Kindle Scribe tablet, due out in December. Panay wasn’t ready to dish on what’s next for Alexa in conversational AI, but he made it clear that he’s bullish on AI in general, and doesn’t believe it’s a passing fad.
“AI is this transformative platform, not something to be dismissed. It’s real,” he said.
Listen below, and continue reading for highlights. Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
A resurgence of reading: People are reading more now than we’ve ever seen. Engagement on Kindle is about as high as it’s been. You’ve got the highest growth and sales numbers for Kindle in the last 10 years. And so you’re looking at a resurgence of reading, which is inspiring to me.
The importance of adding of a color device to the Kindle lineup: Color is the next step. You have emotion that comes into books. You are able to project exactly what it is that the author was trying to portray, whether it’s through the cover or if it’s through a comic book or it’s through a children’s book, and now you’re getting the real vibrancy and the emotion that comes with color.
The process of optimizing the color: The team had brought forward a series of color filters we were using. … And we’re looking at each one of these products, and they’re all tuned differently, Kindle Colorsofts. And the big decision was, can you see the seeds on the strawberry? It was this beautiful picture of multiple strawberries in a bushel. Can you really see the seeds? Can you see the reds? Are the blacks black enough? And you start looking at it, and you go, “OK, this is perfect.”
The importance of focus in devices and product development: Focus is becoming more of a need … not being distracted, is another way to say it. When you have a series of these products, and they have a purpose, can you keep that purpose as simple as possible for people? I think we’re in a day and age where that matters more than ever.
His first year at Amazon: There’s just so much opportunity. I’ve had this year of just gaining energy, seeing another side of the industry, and a totally new way to lead. But the most important part is it’s a whole new set of customers. It’s a whole new set of lives you get to impact and make a difference on. And the team here has shown me how much opportunity there really is.
The potential for AI: We’re just at the beginning of this AI journey. And it is a journey, and it will be a long one. And it’s a transformation for sure. It is a platform shift. I think Amazon has a series of incredible strengths here. That’s why I’m sitting here across from you. I won’t get into that future state too much for you now, but I think the one way to think about it is, it’s all just getting started.
Collaboration across different groups in the Devices and Services division: There’s a ton. The teams are working together. They’re always looking for the right solutions for customers. … We talk about it being a constellation of devices. A little bit of play on words with Kuiper, if you will, but the truth is how all these devices come together to work for our customers is pretty important for everybody on this team right now.
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https://ift.tt/Z18DtKL October 30, 2024 at 01:37PM GeekWire
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