We don’t typically associate Amazon with groundbreaking hardware, but the company has had its hits. Its Amazon Fire tablets and Fire TV sticks are pretty popular devices. It also plans to launch satellites in the near future. However, it wants to dig its heels even deeper into the hardware mud. According to a new report, Amazon has developed the ZeroOne team, which is a company that focuses on bringing “breakthrough” consumer technologies.
At this point, we don’t know too much about what this new team will develop. It’s relatively new, so we’re sure that its products are either in the conceptual stages or blocked behind closed doors. So, don’t expect to hear about its first product launch for quite some time.
However, we do know that the company has gathered some keen technological minds to lead the team. These minds include one of the people responsible for one of the most famous gaming consoles in gaming history.
Amazon established the ZeroOne team, a group that will focus on breakthrough technology
The news that Amazon is doubling down on hardware might be a bit surprising, as most of its money comes from its e-commerce business. However, the company has established a decent ecosystem of devices. They encompass media consumption, home security, smart homes, and a few more.
To help aid this, Amazon announced the creation of ZeroOne. The name ZeroOne refers to the process of developing a device from its conceptual stage to the final product. Since the team is pretty new, it is actively searching for more members. However, Amazon did build the team partially from people who worked in other departments, like Alexa.
However, one of the more notable members is J. Allard. This is a man who had an impressive 19-year run at Microsoft. He was directly involved in the development of the original Xbox. A less shiny addition to his resume includes being an architect for the Microsoft Zune. This was the company’s answer to the iPod, and it fell flat.
The team is looking for members
The ZeroOne team made a few posts on LinkedIn in the search for certain roles, such as a senior customer insights manager, among other positions. One job post mentioned that the member will be working on “conceiving, designing, and bringing to market computer vision techniques for a new smart-home product.” That’s pretty interesting, as Amazon has a pretty nice foothold in the smart home market.
As for the senior customer insights manager, the company is looking for someone who has “the methodology and execution of concept testing and early feedback for ZeroOne programs.” The description reads, “You’ll be part of a team that embraces design thinking, rapid experimentation, and building to learn. If you’re excited about working in small, nimble teams to create entirely new product categories and thrive in the ambiguity of breakthrough innovation, we want to talk to you.”
Obviously, the company didn’t want to give away details on what it’s working on in the LinkedIn posts. So, it makes sense that they’re rather vague. What we can tell is that we should expect to see more Amazon-branded devices in the future.
This team could be linked to an experimental device that Amazon is rumored to be working on
Recently, we got word that Amazon is working on a foldable laptop. This is something that is far outside of Amazon’s wheelhouse. We’re not sure what software it will run, what specs it’ll have, how much it will cost, or if it will actually make it to the market. While Amazon did not confirm that the team is working on this device, it’s pretty convenient that we get news of Amazon working on an ambitious hardware team just after getting rumors that the company is working on a rather ambitious device.
