Amazon Lab126

Amazon Lab126, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
Industry
Founded2004; 21 years ago (2004)
Headquarters1100 Enterprise Way,
Sunnyvale, California 94089[1]
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
Number of employees
3,000[3]
ParentAmazon
Websitelab126.com

Amazon Lab126[4] (sometimes known as Lab126) is an American research and development and computer hardware company owned by Amazon.com.[5] It was founded in 2004 by Gregg Zehr,[6] previously Vice President of Hardware Engineering at Palm, and is based in Sunnyvale, California.[7] It is widely known for developing Amazon's Kindle line of e-readers and tablets.[8][9][10]

Name

Lab126's name derives from the arrow in Amazon's logo, which points from A to Z—the 1st and 26th letters in the English language alphabet.[11][6]

Products

In 2007, after three years of research and development by Lab126, the Amazon Kindle e-reader was released. Newer models of the Kindle continue to be released, with the latest model called the Kindle Oasis in mid-2016.[12]

In 2011, Lab126 released the Kindle Fire tablet; in 2012, they released two new models of the Fire tablet called the Kindle Fire HD.[13] In 2013, it released the Fire HDX, a high-end tablet.[14]

In 2014, Lab126 released the Amazon Fire TV digital media player; in late 2014, they released the smaller Fire TV Stick. Lab126 also released the Fire Phone that was not commercially successful.[15][5]

In 2015, Lab126 released the Amazon Echo, a voice command device.[16]

In 2016, it released the Echo Dot, which is a hockey puck sized version of the Echo; they also released the Amazon Tap, a smaller, portable version of the Echo.[17][18]

In 2021, Lab126 announced Amazon Astro, a brand of domestic robots developed in house.[19][20]

References

  1. ^ "Contact Lab126 - Sunnyvale, CA". Lab126. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Panos Panay". LinkedIn.
  3. ^ Yu, Howard. "On Cyber Monday, Jeff Bezos Has Made Amazon Echo Sound Better Than Google Home". Forbes.
  4. ^ "Lab126 Designs and Engineers Hand-held Consumer Electronics in Sunnyvale, CA". Amazon Lab216. Archived from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  5. ^ a b "Following Fire Phone Flop, Big Changes At Amazon's Lab126". Fast Company. 5 January 2015.
  6. ^ a b García Vega, Miguel Ángel (April 27, 2022). "What is Lab126, Amazon's secretive research laboratory?". El Pais. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Amazon research unit Lab 126 agrees to big lease that could bring Sunnyvale 2,600 new workers". 19 September 2012. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
  8. ^ Catherine Shu (4 January 2013). "Amazon's R&D Group Lab126 Embarks On Hiring Spree As Kindle Business Expands". TechCrunch. AOL.
  9. ^ "Amazon Kindle Product Page". Amazon. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  10. ^ "Amazon Grows A Startup In Cupertino". Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  11. ^ "Work with Us § Our Story". Amazon Lab126. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  12. ^ Amazon's Kindle Oasis is the funkiest e-reader it's ever made The Verge Retrieved April 13, 2016
  13. ^ Amazon preparing 'up to six' new Kindle Fire tablets 23 July 2012
  14. ^ Byford, Sam (2017-05-16). "How is Amazon's 2013 tablet still the best one it ever released?". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  15. ^ "Amazon Fire Phone Flops". TechCrunch. AOL. 23 October 2014.
  16. ^ "The Real Story of How Amazon Built the Echo". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  17. ^ "Amazon adds the $130 Amazon Tap and the $90 Echo Dot to the Echo family". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  18. ^ Rey, Jason Del (2016-03-03). "Amazon unveils two new versions of Echo, including one you can take to the beach". Vox. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  19. ^ McCracken, Harry (2021-09-28). "Amazon's Astro home robot is 'Alexa on wheels'—and much more". Fast Company. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  20. ^ "Amazon Reveals the Science Behind Astro, Its New Robot". Digital Trends. 2021-09-29. Retrieved 2022-07-12.