Amazon’s Alexa Plus event this past February was pretty underwhelming, an event that had to be moved from October of last year to 2025 because Alexa Plus wasn’t ready at the time, and Amazon was still unable to deliver a final product this past February, be that a finished AI or newer hardware to take full advantage of this AI (maybe we’ll see some new Echo devices this fall).

Despite an event last month to announce it, Alexa Plus is still in the rollout phase, and Amazon is still recommending that those who want to try Alexa Plus should sign up for early access. Worse, Amazon also flubbed its Kindle launch last year, with an underwhelming array of devices, many of which suffer from banding issues (including the Paperwhite) to the point that 24% of the new Colorsoft’s reviews are 1-star. Ouch.

This needs to change sooner rather than later

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Clearly, Amazon has been coasting (nothing unfamiliar for Samsung fans), and it’s not like Amazon hardware has been known for high quality in the first place, especially when the company was all too happy to flood the market with Alex-supported devices. Then, there are first-party devices like Fire Tablets, Fire TVs, and Kindles that fill the low end of their respective markets, hardly the epitome of polish.

And let’s not forget the disaster that is Amazon’s content, where the company failed to interest anyone with its gaming division and appears to be dead set on running once-loved brands into the ground like LoTR and The Wheel of Time (with James Bond likely not far behind) on the TV side. Basically, Amazon appears to be struggling with quality control across the board, and apparently, the company is finally going to do something about it.

Panos Panay wants to perfect every single product Amazon ships

Thanks to a Bloomberg report, we now know that Amazon’s chief product officer, Panos Panay, is interested in turning things around by perfecting Amazon’s hardware, which means there will be no more cut corners, so says the man himself.

This certainly sounds like Panay is aware the public doesn’t hold Amazon’s first-party offerings in high regard, perhaps because Panos is somewhat new to the company, having left Microsoft after 19 years last year. Sadly, this ability to sense customer displeasure does not appear to extend to Amazon’s AI, circling us right back to Alexa Plus as a linchpin to Amazon’s latest plans to bring quality back into the fold. At the very least, if quality is a goal, then high-end hardware will be a focus, and this hardware should be able to run Amazon’s software better, including its revamped AI, so perhaps there is some truth to Alexa Plus helping to usher in the next stage for Amazon as a company.

Of course, the big bet to get everyone using Alexa Plus when it’s ready for the masses has a lot to do with free access to all Prime members. Amazon wants to charge $20 a month for Alexa Plus on its own when a Prime subscription is cheaper at $15 a month and includes Alexa Plus. This is clearly a strategic move to get Prime users to adopt Alexa Plus to ensure a future for the AI.

Success isn’t guaranteed, but polished products sure should help

Ultimately, Panos Panay appears to be very cognizant that Amazon and its products aren’t held in very high regard anymore by the public, and after years of coasting, it’s easy to understand why. Little about Amazon stands out anymore, outside its mediocrity, and it’s high time this changes for the better. At the same time, it remains to be seen if Panay’s plans for no more cut corners will see the company’s reputation repaired; at the very least, if Amazon can actually deliver polished products at the high end to please tech enthusiasts and consumers alike, it sounds like we will all win. So here’s hoping Panos can make good on his promise.