SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Smartphones aren’t going anywhere, but they way we use them may radically shift in the years to come. That’s according to Amazon’s Senior Vice President of Devices and Services, Panos Panay.
Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco Thursday, Panay talked about a shift toward what he calls “ambient devices.” For almost 20 years now, smartphones have been at the center of our digital lives.
However, as AI transforms the ways we interact with technology, the next generation of products may look and act very differently, according to Panay, who prior to Amazon, spent 19 years at Microsoft.
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The smartphone, Panay said, is “not going anywhere.”
“Do I think it’s going to change? I do,” he added. “Do I think there’s a future where there’s a bit of a balance where there’s a whole generation that doesn’t say ‘give me the app for that?’ That just says, ‘it should understand what I need?’”
“Yeah. I do. I think that transformation is coming,” he continued.
At TechCrunch, Panay laid out a vision for smartphones that moved beyond being app-based, at least for some people.
“Like maybe I don’t need an app. Maybe I do,” he said. “Some people will, some people won’t. I just don’t think it was, like 10 years ago, when it was ‘there’s an app for that.’”
Ambient devices, according to Panay, will work quietly in the background using sensors and AI and proactively figuring out what needs to be done, rather than having to be told what to do.
“They’re going to be sensors that help you understand, that bring intelligence around,” he explained.
“As it works in the background, you’re able to stay more present. You’re able to get more done. You’re about to spend more time with people,” he said, adding “you’re not afraid if you miss something.”
Panay spoke at the conference on the same day Amazon unveiled its new Bee Frontier device, a wearable that can be worn on the wrist or attached to clothing. Similar to the ambient devices Panay spoke about, Bee quietly works in the background, capturing and summarizing your conversations throughout the day. According to Amazon, the device extracts “key takeaways, action items and insights without ever taking you out of the moment.”
To protect your privacy, Bee encrypts your conversations in a way that only you can control – meaning Amazon can’t access your data unless you opt to share it.
“You have to give customers that control,” Panay said. “Every product is different, but for Bee specifically, as an example in the ambient space like that, you have to design with privacy in mind. And that’s what we do.”
In addition to the wearable, Amazon also released the Bee Eclipse on Thursday, a magnetic, credit card-sized device that attaches to the back of your smartphone and performs a similar function.
“There’ll be a new set of devices coming,” said Panay, adding that “the phone will strengthen itself where it is today, and even stronger, much like the laptop has done so and the tablet.”
Yet, despite this shift, Panay believes the smartphone is not likely to be replaced any time soon.
“I’m not a proponent that says one form factor is going to replace another I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he told the audience at TechCrunch. “I think there’s an intelligence layer that connects it all and that’s probably the most important for us. It has to be useful it just it has to make life easier.”
