Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced his plans regarding the metaverse, the internet has had mixed reactions about it. Of course, many were excited about the potential of the metaverse and what it could do for users in the future. At the same time, there were naysayers or skeptics. One of them was the ex-president of Nintendo. Someone else is also voicing their opinion about the Zuckerberg metaverse. This time, it’s from an Amazon exec.
Ambient Computing
Dave Lee from the Financial Times interviewed David Limp, the head of devices and services of Amazon. Lee was one of the select few invited over to the Amazon headquarters in Seattle to witness the new Amazon creation, Astro, the home robot.
But Lee first started asking about ambient computing. Limp says ambient computing is “another paradigm to interface with technology.” He says that there shouldn’t be any manuals about using it and that anyone can use it. Think of it as being intuitive. He even uses the Amazon Echo as an example, saying that when someone walks in the room and they tell the device to turn on the lights, “it should feel natural.”
He further elaborates that ambient computing should also have the ability to “disappear.” It may seem like they’re not present in the room, but they’re not in use at the moment. Lee describes it as, “Everyone’s there, but nobody’s there.”
Limp described it as if there was a family listening to music or watching TV via voice command on the Amazon Echo, and the technology fades into the background.
As much as they want users and Alexa to interact, even more, Limp hopes that Alexa could talk less and everything seems automatic to the user without having to say a command. Even if that’s the case, Limp says that despite the lack of automatic commands, Alexa learns hunches and knows when to do something on your behalf.
Their final discussion on ambient computing was about its external use and installation,, which could have the potential to be in your car.
On Failed Products and Risks
If you’ll remember, Amazon created the “Fire Phone.” But it’s considered one of their massive failures. For Limp, he says that failures are a part of taking risks and that Amazon is ready to build a new product and try to make it successful. He says that he would do his failures all over again, saying, “I’ll take five Fire Phone failures, if I can get one Alexa.”
The Metaverse
Now onto his thoughts about the Zuckerberg Metaverse. Limp was adamant that Amazon is focused on creating real experiences with accessible products in the present. He believes Amazon can help tether people through ambient computing, and in their world, there would be a metaverse. And in their metaverse, there would be a voice assistant.
He adds that if the implementation of the metaverse was done well, it could help progress the usage of mobile phones. He also acknowledges that even if the tech for the metaverse isn’t here yet, virtual reality is so far the key to the metaverse.
It wasn’t only in his interview with Dave Lee that he discussed the metaverse. He was also present at the Future of Everything Festival, hosted by the Wall Street Journal.
There he emphasized what he had already shared with Lee. He wants the family to become a communal experience and let people look away from their phones and feel connected. At the same festival, he also mentioned the definition of the metaverse, which he also discussed with Lee. Limp says that the metaverse doesn’t have one concrete definition yet. There’s no standard as to what the metaverse is.
He also discussed Astro, the robot, in the festival, and Project Kuiper, their proposed satellite fleet to get ahead in the space race.
