Jeff Bezos announced a whole slew of Kindle devices and launched the new Kindle Fire tablets. And if you believe all the Twitter chatter, then he did it in a Steve Jobs style presentation. Of course, I wasn’t in Los Angeles and there wasn’t a video stream, but it is not hard to imagine. The company has done what no other company apart from Apple does: have a singular voice, a singular pitch man, simple product line-up, release/shipping time table and products priced to move. Like John Gruber, I am impressed. Compare this to the shit-show that was the Nokia Lumia device launch from yesterday.
I have been impressed with the post-2001 Amazon. Yes they have not made a lot of money (aka profits) and yes that their stock flies higher than a helium balloon, but I cannot ignore the fact that Bezos and his boys are willing to push the envelope. Today applaud is ironic, for I am just surprised why it has taken people so long to realize that after Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Jeff is the next real technology icon. (I said so back in 2008.) In my books, Bezos wins because he has built a company that is a good proxy on technology trends. We will be watching these guys for a long time. Now all Jeff has to do is deliver Jobs level of profits.