Feed: Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
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Title: The Zune's creator is leading a secretive team at Amazon

Date: Thu, 29 May 2025 19:41:36 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-zunes-c...

J Allard, a former Microsoft executive and the mind behind the Zune, is
leading a new team at Amazon, CNBC reports. Allard is officially the vice
president of Amazon's ZeroOne, which, based on at least one Amazon job
listing, is "a special projects team dedicated to inventing breakthrough
consumer product categories."

What ZeroOne is actually working on remains a bit mysterious, but CNBC was
able to find another listing for a "Senior Applied Scientist" role that
suggests the team will be "conceiving, designing, and bringing to market
computer vision techniques for a new smart-home product." Computer vision is
the umbrella term for technologies that allow computer systems to
"understand" images and video ΓÇö for example, the ability for a Ring Video
Doorbell to identify when a package is on your door step.

Depending on your taste in MP3 players, Allard's role in the creation of the
Microsoft Zune could justifiably give you pause. Microsoft's failed MP3
player looked distinct, but was no match for the popularity of the iPod. The
Zune was one of several interesting, if unsuccessful projects Allard led at
Microsoft, including the Microsoft Kin, and the Courier, a book-style tablet
that was later reimagined as the Surface Neo. Allard also co-created the
original Xbox, arguably his biggest claim to fame at the company.

ZeroOne will exist inside Amazon's larger devices and services division,
which is led by Panos Panay, another Microsoft expat. Panay joined Amazon to
lead the division in 2023, after several years overseeing the development of
Surface hardware and Windows 11 at Microsoft. Since Panay joined the company,
Amazon has launched a new lineup of Kindles and introduced Alexa+, its
integration of generative AI into the well-known voice assistant. Hiring both
Allard and Panay suggests Amazon plans to lean even harder into product
development going forward.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-
tech/the-zunes-creator-is-leading-a-secretive-team-at-amazon-
194136949.html?src=rss

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