Jeff Bezos says Amazon will need to fail to succeed

News
By
published

Bezos contrasts Fire Phone's failure with Echo's success

Image Credit: Shutterstock (Image credit: Image Credit: Ken Wolter / Shutterstock)

Success and failure often go hand in hand according to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, who recently told shareholders that the company needs to “occasionally have multi billion-dollar failures” to ensure that it is “experimenting at the right scale” for a business of its size.

In his annual letter to shareholders, Bezos reminded them of how the tech giant's Fire Phone failed miserably while its Echo line of smart speakers has done incredibly well despite being a huge departure from the company's product lineup at launch, saying:

“Development of the Fire phone and Echo was started around the same time. While the Fire phone was a failure, we were able to take our learnings (as well as the developers) and accelerate our efforts building Echo and Alexa. No customer was asking for Echo. This was definitely us wandering. Market research doesn’t help. If you had gone to a customer in 2013 and said “Would you like a black, always-on cylinder in your kitchen about the size of a Pringles can that you can talk to and ask questions, that also turns on your lights and plays music?” I guarantee you they’d have looked at you strangely and said “No, thank you.””

Taking risks to innovate

While the Echo certainly paid off better in the long run than the Fire Phone, both projects are prime examples of how Amazon has taken risks on innovative projects that sometimes pay off and sometimes don't.

Only 35,000 Fire phones were sold in total according to The Guardian whereas Amazon has sold over 100m Echo Alexa-enabled devices with over 150 third-party products available.

Bezos also hailed the success of its 10 automated Amazon Go stores saying 90 percent of retail is still offline.

He ended his letter by explaining how the majority of merchandise sold through Amazon is offered by third-parties while challenging competitors such as Walmart to match or beat Amazon's $15-per-hour minimum wage.

Via Pocket-lint

  • We've also highlighted the best antivirus to help keep your devices safe online
TOPICS
Anthony Spadafora
Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.