Amazon's new design chief hints it is cooking up something exciting

A number of high profile leaders from Microsoft have been making the switch to Amazon in recent years. It started with Panos Panay in 2023, who was the former product lead at Microsoft but now heads Amazon's devices and services division.

Then in October 2024, Xbox co-founder, J Allard, joined the e-commerce giant as VP of Devices and Services, reporting to Panos Panay. Now, he's being joined by Ralf Groene, the former head of Design for Microsoft Devices and Windows.

Mr. Groene will be the new design lead for Amazon Devices and Services, and will bring his decades of experience at Microsoft which includes designing the Surface tablet and helping in the development of multiple Surface devices released in the last ten years.

The trio of Messrs. Panay, Allard, and Groene hint at exciting products coming from Amazon in the near future. Probably redesigned Fie tablets, new Echo speakers, and maybe another stab at a smartphone.

Last year, Amazon announced a couple of new Kindles including its first model with a color E Ink screen and a redesigned Kindle Scribe. The latter is arguably its best looking device yet and even comes in a gorgeous jade color with a matching stylus.

Alongside Mr. Groene, Amazon has also hired Aidan Marcuss who was a former Windows Cloud executive but now heads Fire TV, ads, and AppStore.