Just days after Amazon put on its glitzy annual devices and services showcase for the media in New York City, employees were surprised to learn that a Vice President who helps oversee the devices division is leaving the company. In an internal memo circulated to employees, and viewed by Reuters News Agency, it was announced that Rob Williams, Vice President of Device Software and Services – and part of a small elite group of executives with direct access to CEO Andy Jassy known as the S-team – stepped down from his post…and furthermore, will leave the company entirely at year-end.
See more on the turmoil in Amazon’s money-losing devices division…
For almost thirteen years, since March 2013, Rob Williams has been part of Amazon’s devices team as the leader of its device software and services unit. Since 2022, he has also been part of the extremely elite S-team group of advisors – with only 29 members (Amazon has 1.55 million employees) – to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
It is perhaps because of that second fact, his role on the prestigious S-team, that most surprised employees to learn of Williams’ departure from the company. While the company refers to this event as a “retirement,” the reporting from Reuters makes it clear that they suspect this is not a traditional retirement.
Continuing Rationalization and Restructuring
Most likely, it is another element in the continuing rationalization and restructuring plaguing the devices division for years now. Since the company entered the devices business, said to be the dream of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the division has lost money. I reported on this back in 2022, when the company was on pace to lose $10 billion in the devices division.
Also, the new head of the devices division, Panos Panay, may have been a factor in Williams’ exit. Panay, you may recall, was the highly touted head of products at Sonos, a role he only held for about three years when he left in 2023 to take the top devices role at Amazon.
Williams is Retiring(?)
Rob has had a big impact on the software and experiences of nearly all of the products we’ve created and shipped.
Panos Panay, Amazon Senior Vice President of Devices and Services in the memo to employees on the news
It was Panay who said in the employee memo that Williams had decided to “retire from Amazon,” but Reuters could neither confirm that circumstance nor learn of Williams’ future plans. At the same time, the report says that Panay went on to announce the consolidation of several teams in his unit, including moving the Alexa Smart Vehicle team into a broader Alexa group.
More Reorganization; Head of Fire TV to Take Over Device Software & Services
Finally, Panay announced that the vice president of Fire TV product and engineering, Tapas Roy, would step into Williams’ newly vacated position. He also noted that Williams will remain an advisor to Panay and the S-team through the end of 2025.
I’ve written fairly extensively about how Amazon has struggled in the device business, including a report on leaked internal documents that show users quickly tire of the company’s core smart speaker products. Originally, the plan was that voice-controlled smart speakers would make it easier for consumers to voice-order needed goods all day long. But that has not proven to be the case.
A Number of Rounds of Layoffs
Consequently, the devices division has undergone a number of rounds of layoffs, with the latest reorganization included as part of the memo announcing Williams’ departure. The company has also cheapened the manufacturing of the smart speakers to try and pare back losses.
And, as Reuters noted, “A multi-year project to update its Alexa voice assistant with embedded generative artificial intelligence (AI) has rolled out slowly and has no clear path to profitability, and Amazon is overhauling its Fire tablets with Android operating software for the first time.”
That is a lot of continuing turmoil in the devices unit.
See more on Amazon by visiting amazon.com.
Leave a Reply