Panos Panay Details Amazon’s New Consumer Product Strategy

As Amazon’s next-gen Alexa+ is set to launch in beta in the US later this month, Panos Panay, the company’s new devices and services chief discussed Amazon’s new consumer product strategy with Bloomberg. And it looks like the former Chief Product Officer at Microsoft wants to change the “cheap” reputation of Amazon’s products.

In the interview, Panay teased new quality tiers for Alexa gadgets, with new “entry, core or signature” tiers. All products across these tiers should also get the same level of care and attention, the exec added, with “edge-processing” upgrades also making it possible to run more AI features directly on the devices.

“I want perfection in every single product that we ship — period,” Panay told Bloomberg. “There won’t be a corner cut. It won’t matter if we tried it before. It won’t matter what you thought it used to be.”

Amazon still has a lot to prove with Alexa+, which will only be available on the existing Echo Show 8, 10, 15, and 21 smart displays at launch. The next-gen assistant will eventually come to other Alexa devices, and Panay said that Alexa+ will give them an “IQ bump.” As for upcoming devices, Panos said “We’re envisioning what’s the next thing for a customer when it comes to AI devices and we have some incredible ones” in development.”

Alexa+ will be priced at $19.99/month in the US, but it will be free for Amazon Prime subscribers. The generative AI revamp of the assistant will also get a web interface similar to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots allowing users to type their questions, upload files for analysis, and more.