Amazon has formed a new team, ZeroOne, focused on developing breakthrough consumer products, led by J Allard, a former Microsoft executive and Xbox co-founder.
The ZeroOne team operates across Seattle, San Francisco, and Sunnyvale, California, working on both hardware and software innovations. The team's name reflects its goal of advancing novel ideas from inception to market launch, embodying the concept of moving from "zero to one."
J Allard brings significant experience to this role, having contributed to the creation of the Xbox console and the Zune media player during his 19-year tenure at Microsoft. He joined Amazon's devices and services division in September 2024 under the leadership of Panos Panay, who took charge of the division in 2023.
Amazon’s devices unit has seen a mix of successes, including the Kindle, Echo, and Fire TV sticks, alongside less successful hardware endeavors such as the Fire Phone and Halo fitness tracker. Many of these products originated from Lab126, Amazon’s Silicon Valley-based hardware research group.
Job postings for ZeroOne suggest the team is innovating in smart-home technology, with responsibilities ranging from concept development to market launch. One listing highlights work on computer vision techniques for new smart-home products. The team embraces design thinking, rapid prototyping, and agility in product development.
ZeroOne’s staff includes talent drawn from Amazon’s Alexa, Luna cloud gaming, Halo sleep tracking, and recently acquired companies like Lightform, reflecting a strategy to consolidate innovative expertise within the new unit.
While ZeroOne grows, Amazon has recently reduced staff in other parts of its devices and services division, including layoffs affecting Alexa, Amazon Kids, and Lab126 employees. These cuts represent a small fraction of the division's workforce, which consists of tens of thousands of employees.
