Amazon’s Bezos: ‘I would love to know what Apple’s product roadmap is; that would be very helpful to me’

“Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos [on Wednesday] wrapped up the company’s 2014 annual meeting at Seattle Center, giving shareholders a broad overview of the state of the company — from e-commerce and Amazon Fresh to drones and Amazon Web Services,” Todd Bishop reports for GeekWire.

“But one of the most interesting insights came toward the end of the meeting, when a longtime shareholder asked Bezos about the company’s approach to talking publicly about what it’s doing,” Bishop reports. “‘Our primary approach is, we talk when we have something to say,’ Bezos said. ‘I never think of us as secretive, I think of us as mostly quiet.'”

Bishop reports, “‘We operate in a really competitive environment,’ he said. ‘Retail in general, e-commerce for sure, technology and our devices. We take great care to try and keep our product roadmaps quiet. I would love to know what Apple’s product roadmap is. That would be very helpful to me. They work hard to keep their product roadmaps quiet.'”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Wirehead” for the heads up.]

42 Comments

    1. That’s funny, because that’s a question even Tim Cook doesn’t know.

      This guy is just that clueless.

      Could Cook tell you about the hottest bath-house in West Hollywood, the latest piece of positive gay legislation, whether or not Viggo Mortensen is single, the latest designs this season from Paris, what color his husband is going to decorate their show dog’s bathroom… the answer would be yes to all of the above.

      Still, when it comes to questions pertaining to his job, he’s Bambi in the headlights.

      This guy is just collecting a paycheck and sucking up air, like he’s going to die if he doesn’t!

        1. Or maybe just not make up a one time use name and have the balls(though the screeches of your girly gossipy tone make me question their existence) to use a regular contributor s/n with some history. Of course, that would take the aforementioned but likely not present pair. My less than devoted writing fan gf just snickered when she read the screechy post and suggested to say have the ovum, not the balls, instead of a cowardly cheap shot. Oh well.

  1. How do investors think Amazon is every going to make the substantial profits that their stock price seems to be counting on? They make tiny profits, and sell almost exclusive based on cheap pricing. There doesn’t seem to be massive room for increased efficiency and thus increased profit from resulting savings, and raising prices seems to be both the opposite of their stated intentions/ethos and would wipe out one of the things that makes them attractive to purchase from. I really don’t understand it. As a consumer it’s good, but as an investor it seems mad.

    1. Amazon is in a long game. The first part of the game is destroying brick and mortar stores. All across America, Amazon has put hundreds of thousands of both small and large stores out of business, starting with bookstores and moving on…. The second part of the game is to make Amazon the first stop in e-commerce shopping, and to build the infrastructure to deliver. Based on their volume, they are doing ok in this department. The third phase will be to increase pricing/profit, once they have established a sufficient monopoly that customers have few alternatives.

      1. They have already started being an illegal monopoly.
        They are delaying shipping certain books to pressure specific authors.
        You know- that thing that Apple was wrongly accused of.
        Just saying.

        1. Strange they should do that unless you are taking about independents.. Authors under the big publishing houses have no direct contact with Amazon in that way.

    1. My thought exactly.

      Bezos: “Apple, please publish your product roadmap for the next five years. That way I can start work on all those items now and have products like just yours within days or weeks (or at most months) after you introduce something rather than having to wait and deliver a knockoff a couple years (or more) after your introductions.”

      1. Yeah how much more transparently disingenuous and blatant can you get? I’m sure many companies wish they knew what their competitors are doing and plan accordingly (Shamdung anyone?). Pretty immature statement from a CEO. It seems few CEO’s are moderating themselves from brain to mouth anymore. Stream of consciousness not a good speaking style.

      2. It was more like we have nothing in the pipeline. Let’s pretend that we are just as secretive as Apple. Yes, that’s the ticket.

        We want to be more like Apple. (Piss away you money on Amazon stock.)

  2. Amazon is betting on the Walmart approach to dominating selling by being everywhere, even though it is only everywhere electronically.

    Yelp and others are starting to show people want to act locally to support more of the local producers & merchants, so it will be a battle.

    There is no guarantee Amazon’s earnings will keep the stock price up over time.

    Smartphones and small tablets may just be the leveling agent that allows easy local contact with individuals to companies and products that undoes online electronic retailers.

    Internet ideas & use are not static. People may choose to buy locally whenever possible if they get an app or site that lets them find things fast locally.

  3. Well, I think that WOULD make stealing good ideas much easier! It would save on lawsuits, too. All Apple has to do is tell the other companies what products they need to make a fortune; not sure how that benefits Apple, but it is more important to make Jeff Bezos happy!

  4. I think Bezos meant something like, “Apple’s secretive. It would, of course, be FANTASTIC for us to know what they’re going to do. But that’s not going to happen. This is all very competitive.”

    He doesn’t have the same attitude as Samcopy, Microscum and Eric-the-Mole.

  5. “We take great care to try and keep our product roadmaps quiet. I would love to know what Apple’s product roadmap is.”

    Bezos understands why it’s a beneficial thing that Amazon’s roadmap should be kept quiet, but would like to have knowledge of Apple’s roadmap. Seems like he wants one rule for Amazon and a different rule for Apple. He doesn’t need to worry, Apple won’t be making there roadmap public.

    When it comes to roadmaps, I’m pretty confident that Apple’s roadmap will prove to be significantly more interesting than Amazon’s roadmap.

  6. “I would love to know what Apple’s road map is. That would be very helpful to me.

    Helpful to you, no joke Sherlock!

    Bezos, here’s a thought, come up with your own shi…, er stuff!

  7. If only I had a dollar for every time I heard or read pundits, tech writers, tech blog writers, analysts on cNBC, and IT industry consultants, analysts and executives say, “The problem with Apple is they won’t give us their product or software roadmap. That’s why companies like Microsoft are so wonderful and why we can be confident about their future and committing to their products…”

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