Amazon firing: Staff laid off on failed smartphone and other tech projects

Amazon's bid to actually make a profit hits Lab126 technology developments

Amazon has reportedly laid off engineering and other staff working on the Amazon Fire smartphone and curtailed development of other consumer devices in order to focus on the Kindle e-reader and popular low-end tablet computers, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The lay-offs at Amazon's Lab126 come as the company seeks to cut costs and will also mean the end of a number of ambitious technology projects, such as its 14-inch-screen tablet development, called Project Cairo. Other projects potentially at risk include its Echo virtual assistant.

It follows the embarrassing flop of the Amazon Fire smartphone, a high-end device that ran a bespoke version of Android, with apps downloadable from a (rather sparse) Amazon app store rather than Google Play. The device was pitched against the Apple iPhone, without the iPhone's matching aesthetics, specifications or appeal. Even subsequent big price cuts couldn't shift it.

Internally, according to the WSJ, the failure of the Fire smartphone was pinned on CEO Jeff Bezos, who had insisted on it including expensive gimmicks, such as a 3D screen and facial recognition camera, which didn't catch-on with consumers. Amazon filed a $170 million write-down related to unsold stock within months of its launch.

After that ignominious flop, engineers working on the Amazon smartphone project were warned earlier this year that further development was under threat, while the executive in charge of hardware development, Steve Kessel, jumped ship to internet giant Google.

According to the WSJ, Lab126 has suffered from shifting and nebulous project goals, such as one development for a "high-end computer for the kitchen", dubbed Kabinet.

Lab126 was founded in 2004 and developed the Kindle e-reader, which was launched in 2007 and which remains the unit's biggest success to date. However, many of its projects ultimately come down to driving people to buy more items from the Amazon website.

News about the lay-offs has been muted by Amazon's practice of requiring staff to sign non-disclosure agreements in return for severance payments.