Panos Panay has a Food regimen Coke drawback. It’s a subject that shortly got here up after I walked into the small interview room, after he supplied me a selection of drinks and I stated my accomplice has the same dependancy. After a fast dialog on some great benefits of consuming plain water over food plan colas, I knew his spouse, like me, advocates for much less soda, however I nonetheless knew nothing of how a lot the person really consumed a day.
It was Panay’s first launch occasion with members of the media since he left Microsoft final yr to guide Amazon’s units and providers group. And the moment I walked into the occasion area at The Shed in New York, I believed “this feels like a Panos event.”
The room was drenched in daylight, with numerous impartial and pastel pink couches and armchairs specified by a obscure semicircle dealing with an unassuming elevated platform. Across the stage had been neatly planted assorted greenery with lavender and what appeared like child’s breath lending a normal softness to the scene.
There was a leather-based stool on the stage that appeared simply large enough to perch on however not comfy sufficient to really relaxation, and subsequent to it was a smaller wood finish desk the place a solo water bottle sat. Panay didn’t as soon as sit throughout his 38-minute presentation. Clad in a black collared shirt, black jacket, black denims and black footwear with a brown trim, Panay introduced his typical sentimental supply to the Kindle launch occasion.
As typical, he didn’t shrink back from mentioning his household, displaying a fastidiously taken image of his daughter Bella studying a Kindle on a sofa. He known as out members of the media by identify, saying hi there to Lance Ulanoff within the entrance row and asking David Pierce if he might hear. At one level, he walked over to the center row at hand a brand new Kindle off to tech Youtuber Jacklyn Dallas, asking her to faucet repeatedly on the display screen to scroll by way of pages and see for herself how a lot sooner he believed it was.
I say all this to impress on you that the Panos expertise is one which’s inviting, participating and might even lull you into feeling so charmed that you simply would possibly overlook the truth that he repeatedly calls the Kindle Scribe a 2-in-1. It was definitely sufficient to offer me extra endurance than I usually would have for a tech chief that had spent virtually a 3rd of his presentation speaking in regards to the Kindle’s historical past and the place it matches into individuals’s lives. As a substitute of pondering “get on with it, I want to hear about the new devices without all this preamble,” I merely laughed on the jokes, made eye contact and associated to the private anecdotes. And although I knew we had been previous the 38 minutes he had promised the speech would final, I didn’t thoughts that he was nonetheless speaking.
I used to be capable of query him about 2-in-1s once we sat down to speak, although. The time period brings to my thoughts the picture of Floor tablets and iPads, to not point out the Floor Duo and Floor Neo that Panay launched at a remarkably comparable Microsoft occasion years in the past. Kindles? Not a lot. However in response to Panay, the Kindle Scribe “does two things, and it does it remarkably well. Turns out, it only does two things.”
Folks wish to learn on their Kindles, however in addition they wish to write in books. “Both experiences have to stand on their own in a great way,” he added. “You can buy this device for writing, or you can buy this device for reading and then you can bridge it.”
But when a tool tries to be an excessive amount of, it would get too sophisticated. After I requested what was subsequent for the Kindle Scribe and what challenges it faces, Panay stated “You’ve got to be careful not to make it a Swiss army knife. That’s probably the biggest challenge — what it’s not gonna be.”
Panay defined that “at Amazon, the focus on the customers is off the charts,” saying the group talks to customers, reads critiques and research how individuals use their merchandise to higher perceive wants. “Fundamentally, for this team, [it’s to] know what the customer needs, be passionate, make sure you deliver it.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”
The method Panay has introduced over to Amazon is one which considers his historical past at Microsoft (and his complete life). He by no means explicitly mentions this, however I can not assist questioning if he’s realized something from that firm asserting the Floor Neo dual-screen laptop computer and never really releasing it.
Panay additionally stated that in getting to know prospects’ wants, Amazon additionally has to attempt to predict what they may need. “You also have to understand where the technology is headed and you have to have roadmaps,” he stated. “You have to have invention and creation that sets you up for where it’s headed, so when people land, they have the next thing they need and hopefully it was your product that got them there.”
“Let’s not try and reinvent things that people don’t need reinvented.”Panos Panay
That want to foretell tendencies makes me nervous, particularly at a time when each main firm is speeding to stuff generative AI options into their merchandise. How ought to corporations like Amazon resist the urge to leap on bandwagons and keep away from making merchandise that in the end are the results of ineffective hype? To Panay, the reply is endurance.
“Patience is everything,” he stated. “What is the right thing for the product at the right time? How is it useful? How is it elegant?” He acknowledged that “we’re at a time where AI for sure is transformational. This is not a fad.” There are issues AI can convey to the Kindle Scribe and different merchandise that would elevate them. However “making it useful for everyone is important to me, and making it simple.”
There are simply two AI-based pocket book options for the Kindle Scribe, they usually principally learn your scribbles and convert them to one thing extra legible and digestible. They’re not groundbreaking ideas — I’ve seen no less than 5 completely different corporations launch summarization instruments within the final yr. However Panay made it clear by way of private anecdotes on stage that these are essential to him and his employees. He doesn’t wish to let individuals see his handwritten notes, however he’ll allow them to see the model tidied up by AI. Whether or not the remainder of the world’s Kindle customers will discover these useful, I’m much less sure.
For now, Panay needs to good the Kindle Scribe expertise. “You can never make anything perfect, I’m never satisfied. But it’s so close right now… to feeling like paper, to feeling like an eraser, to feeling like you’re writing, to no distractions in your way.” He known as it his favourite youngster through the presentation (however later saying that he felt responsible doing that).
There are many different kids within the Amazon {hardware} household that Panay oversees. He’s not solely accountable for the 4 Kindles launched at present, together with the brand new shade ereader known as the Colorsoft, however the firm’s sensible dwelling, robotaxi, satellite tv for pc, shopper robots and Alexa merchandise, in addition to Fireplace TVs and tablets, too.
“It’s an eclectic group of products at some level, but it’s actually quite a connected one at the same time.” There’s additionally stuff that Panay couldn’t but discuss on the report, however he stated there’s “so much magic yet to be shared with the world.” In a extra lifelike method of talking, it’s about seeing these items “connected in a way that can make a difference for people’s lives every day in their homes and outside of the home.”
There are different methods the Kindle Scribe might evolve that wouldn’t be a stretch of the creativeness, both. The obvious is getting a shade show, and Panay agreed “it’s not a stretch at all, probably” earlier than occurring to say he can’t talk about future roadmaps. However I can definitely speculate.
Whereas it’s fascinating to see Amazon give you an entire new identify for the Colorsoft, indicating that it’ll maybe be a separate product line, it might make sense for the Colorsoft to be a one-off and for the colour panels to get built-in into different current Kindles in future.
One other potential technological change to Kindles is making them foldable. To that finish, Panay merely stated “It’s an interesting concept.” After I identified that he’s no stranger to folding units, he acknowledged “I’m definitely not,” earlier than including that “we have a ton of concepts in the lab.”
Crucially, although, he reiterates he does not “want to create tech for the sake of creating tech.” If the concept is true, Panay is open to contemplating it. “But right now, keeping it simple is where we’re at.”
