Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
PEnos Panay leads AmazonConsumer Electronics Business. The company has recently launched a range of new products ranging from color kindle A hi-fi speaker and a Ring doorbell that can help you find your dog.
Panay sat down with Independent Immediately following the keynote speech in which the products were unveiled, she was dressed in a black T-shirt and a dark gray jacket with a very subtle check. If you didn’t look carefully, you’d think it was plain black.
But it seems important to look closely at what Panay does, and it’s reflected in the way he talks. She is thoughtful and considerate, and her answers to even the most superficial questions have depth and intensity.
New products include the new Echo Studio speaker, which is compatible with the advanced personal assistant Alexa Plus. There was also the Kindle Scribe ColorSoft, a large-format color-screen ebook reader that encourages you to write on it, and a Fire TV with a smart assistant on board. I suggest that in different ways, they seem to be extremely personal products.
“Well, they’re personal. One of the first things I ask my team is, have you bought the product that you’ve made? If you’re going to make a product, you need to know who you’re going to buy it for, not who you’re going to sell it to. There’s a big difference,” Panay says.
Alexa Plus, the new, advanced personal assistant compatible with new speakers and TVs, uses ayeAs the search party is on, there’s a new feature coming to Ring smart doorbells made by Amazon. In the keynote, it was shown that users can report when their dog has gone missing and Ring can search for video on nearby doorbells. If a free-roaming dog is seen, Ring will ask the owner of that doorbell if they have permission to share the associated video with the dog’s owner.
Amazon has also demonstrated other abilities, including that of a dog. In a separate demonstration, an Amazon executive asked Alexa Plus to remind his son Jonah to feed the dog. This indicates a complex series of events that you will have to watch carefully to see.
“There are a lot of things going on there. Do you have a Ring camera focused on the dog’s bowl? Over time, Alexa realizes that the dog is usually fed before noon. Through that camera you chose to put it there. It’s not like an event. It’s just what you chose,” Panay says, emphasizing that even those sensitive to privacy issues will recognize that this was the household’s personal choice. The next time the Ring camera sees it, more events are triggered.
“Alexa, when she sees Jonah, goes back to the dog’s bowl, checking to see if the dog has eaten today. If the dog hasn’t eaten today, when she sees Jonah, Alexa says, ‘Jonah, make sure you’ve fed the dog today.’ Every one of those steps is useful,” says Panay.
A camera pointing at the trash can can help Alexa Plus remind your kids to take out the trash on the right day. If a smart doorbell sees that the person coming in is wearing shoes (which is obviously quite possible), and you don’t like to wear shoes indoors, then, “Alexa simply tells you that you need to take your shoes off. There are subtle things that are AI based, but also very personal, that are enjoyable, and they start to change what’s possible, within the guidelines of the permissions you’ve given them,” Panay explains.
Panay mentioned privacy and security several times, perhaps to reassure that Alexa is only listening when it should and everything remains private.
AI is definitely important, especially for Alexa Plus, which hasn’t arrived in the UK yet. But it looks like the new products have gone a step further in terms of design as well. Is that an aesthetic thing or a customer thing?
“It’s not an aesthetic thing, and it’s an aesthetic thing,” says Panay. “We want our customers to be proud of what they’ve purchased. I think you have to pay as much attention to your products as possible, but also manage it at a price that the customer wants. It’s a tough compromise. You go back to the customer and say this is where greatness, a great product, comes from.”
One of the new products was the Kindle Scribe ColorSoft, which is coming to the UK in 2026. This is a large-screen Kindle that uses the same screen technology as the regular Kindle, but it’s in color and it responds to touch with a smart stylus.
“We made that thing as thin as we possibly could, to make the bezel absolutely perfect so that it can glide right in front of you to make sure it disappears. There’s a little trick to it. The first reading was very perfect. Everything is symmetrical, everything is square. It stops you, and you just wonder what’s missing? And, you know, a great product, there’s a first read, and a second read. The second read is more. The first read is an emotional connection with the product that doesn’t tell you what it was, but is it an aesthetic?
Panay then mentioned the 3D knit mesh fabric on the Echo Dot Max, which is designed to be seamless. “The idea of that manufacturing process was to get a seamless knit fabric that was acoustically transparent. When you look at it, you keep looking at it for quite a long time, and you can’t even see it. It’s a product that belongs in the house. Like a beautiful bouquet of flowers, you’ll notice it on the first day, but by the third day, it will make your home even nicer. You won’t even know it’s there. It’s a concept. Where perfection, without “The product of imperfection is just gone.”
Something else that becomes second nature might also be Alexa Plus. How is the advanced personal assistant doing in the first few months after its launch in the US?
“The surprising thing is the level of natural interaction. I expected it, but not at the level it’s happening. The engagement is awesome. Hmm. It’s really cool. People just talk to Alexa. It’s just there, and if you use it once or twice, you don’t forget it’s there, even though it’s not in your face. It would be a lot easier to answer your questions if Alexa were here. You can ask her. It’s enjoyable.” And that’s when we can expect it in the UK, I promise. “We’ll be there soon.”