Panos Panay is Amazon’s head of Devices & Services. Panay returns to Big Technology Podcast to discuss Alexa Plus's delayed rollout, when the assistant is releasing to everyone, and the challenge of building these products. Tune in for specifics on compatibility, usage spikes, and what “day one” means when you have hundreds of millions of customers. We also cover the future of computing, from phones to wearables and home devices. Hit play for a grounded look at what’s real now—and what’s coming next. --- Wa ...

The recipe stuff is so good. And you can now like snap a picture of a recipe, send it to Alexa, and it will break it out into a format for you with the ingredients, the steps. It will talk you through it.You can say, "Hey, what what was the temperature I needed to set it for for the oven and just go back and forth while you're walking around your kitchen?" That experience so much better. >> That's the stuff, right. Like all the agent stuff is like fine and interesting and I think like a long way off from ac ...

Product Launch - Amazon launched four new smart speakers and voice-activated displays integrating Alexa Plus [1] - The new Echo Dot Max costs $100, Echo Show 8 is priced at $180, Echo Show 11 at $220, and Echo Studio at $220 [2] - All devices are available for pre-order with early access to Alexa Plus [3] Alexa Plus - Alexa Plus is free for Prime members, otherwise it costs $20 per month [3] - Alexa Plus debuted in February and has been rolling out to select users [3] Leadership & Strategy - These are the first revamped products under Panos Pan, who joined Amazon in 2023 [4] - Amazon aims to compete with rivals like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini [4]

Core Insights - Google is integrating its Gemini AI into its smart home devices, including Nest and smart speakers, marking a significant update to its product suite [1][4] - The integration of generative AI into home devices is seen as a testing ground for future AI-native hardware, with a focus on voice interaction rather than traditional screen-based interfaces [2][3] Company Strategy - Google aims to enhance its ecosystem by embedding AI across its product stack, which is expected to deepen user engagement and loyalty [4][6] - The recent announcement reflects Google's strategy to leverage its end-to-end AI ecosystem, which includes its own models and cloud services, to maintain a competitive edge against rivals like OpenAI [3][6] Market Context - The smart home market is evolving, with companies like Apple and Amazon also attempting to retrofit their existing devices with generative AI capabilities to remain relevant [3][5] - Google's stock performance has improved significantly, attributed to investor confidence that Gemini has surpassed its competitors in AI capabilities [4] User Experience - The new features in Google Home aim to provide more contextual and intelligent responses, enhancing the overall user experience by integrating sound and video inputs [10] - The potential for voice assistants to perform more complex tasks, such as providing insights based on home surveillance footage, represents a shift in how users may interact with these devices [10][11] E-commerce Integration - There is a growing trend to incorporate e-commerce functionalities into voice assistants, with both Amazon and Google pushing for a seamless shopping experience through voice commands [12]

But now to focus more on the behemoth that is all things Amazon, I'd like to welcome in Olivia Blanchard, a research director at Futurum. So, thank you so much for being with us today. I mean, let's start broad here with the Amazon product announcements.What stuck out to you. What was your your real key takeaway from what we heard from the company. Hey, thanks for having me on.So, yesterday was the uh Amazon devices big announcement in New York City and I was there so you didn't have to be. Uh and there wer ...

Panos, the way that I look at this is that this is the first generation of of Amazon hardware that has your fingers on it, right. And as a place to start, could we talk a bit about the hardware innovation, the areas that you you feel are most important here in this generation. >> Yeah, I think this is a first, it's an incredible team that's building these products and uh these products are designed from the silicon up.Quite literally, this is custom silicon built for the Alexa products. But there's also a a ...

The way that I look at this is that this is the first generation of Amazon hardware that has your fingers on it. Right. And is a place to start.Could we talk a bit about the hardware innovation, the areas that you feel are most important here in this generation. Yeah, I think this is a first. It's an incredible team that's building these products.And these products are designed from the silicon, quite literally. This is custom silicon built for the Alexa products, but there's also a focus right now on the s ...

The way that I look at this is that this is the first generation of Amazon hardware that has your fingers on it. Right. And is a place to start.Could we talk a bit about the hardware innovation, the areas that you feel are most important here in this generation. Yeah, I think this is a first. It's an incredible team that's building these products.And these products are designed from the silicon, quite literally. This is custom silicon built for the Alexa products, but there's also a focus right now on the s ...

Core Insights - Amazon has unveiled updates to its Echo, Ring, Fire TV, and Alexa Plus digital assistant, integrating generative AI capabilities into its devices [1] - The company is experiencing increased customer engagement with the upgraded Alexa Plus assistant, indicating a potential shift towards AI-driven commerce [2] - Smart home adoption rates with Alexa Plus have doubled, although initial adoption was limited due to a restricted release model [3] Device and Technology Updates - The new devices are equipped with Alexa Plus, which is expected to enhance user experience and drive sales [1] - The rollout of Alexa Plus is part of Amazon's broader strategy to integrate generative AI across its product line [2] - All new Echo devices will feature Alexa Plus, aiming to overcome previous adoption bottlenecks [3] Market Performance and Competition - Early reviews of Amazon's generative AI tool have been mixed, with some critics suggesting that Amazon's upgrades are lagging behind competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta [4] - Amazon's shares have underperformed this year, making it the worst performer among the "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks [4] - The launch of new devices coincides with Amazon's Prime fall days, which is a strategic move to boost sales [5][6]

Core Insights - Amazon is transitioning from a retail giant to a significant player in artificial intelligence (AI), which could drive its next phase of trillion-dollar growth [1] - The company has a market capitalization of approximately $2.4 trillion, indicating its status as one of the world's most valuable companies [1] AWS and AI Growth Engine - Amazon Web Services (AWS) is crucial for Amazon's future, generating a 17.5% year-over-year revenue increase in Q2 to $30.9 billion, with an annualized run rate of $123 billion [3] - AWS is becoming a leader in generative AI, with a business valued in billions and experiencing triple-digit growth annually [3] - Amazon's AI infrastructure, utilizing Trainium 2 custom chips and Nvidia Grace Blackwell Superchip EC2 instances, is attracting major clients like Anthropic [3] - Amazon Bedrock, which allows enterprises to customize models, is also gaining significant traction [3] Advanced AI Applications - Amazon is addressing complex AI challenges with tools like Strands and Agent Core for creating AI agents [4] - AWS is launching advanced AI applications such as AWS Transform for IT transformation and Curo, a next-generation coding agent [4] - AWS holds a dominant 30% share of the global cloud computing market, leading over competitors like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud [4] Broader AI Initiatives - Amazon's AI strategy extends beyond AWS, with Alexa Plus, its generative AI assistant, receiving positive early feedback from millions of users in the U.S. [5] - The Project Kuiper satellite broadband program has successfully completed three launches, with commercial deployment anticipated for industry and government clients [5]