- According to Wall Street Journal reports, Amazon has met with several startups over the years to seemingly discuss acquisitions and investments just to develop similar products of its own.
- One of the companies was Ubi, a voice-activated device that hit the market in 2012 and was surprisingly similar to the Amazon Echo, which launched in 2015.
- Ubi creator Leor Grebler said he believed Amazon wanted to acquire his company when he met with executives in 2013 for a demo of his device, at which time he also revealed proprietary information.
- Amazon fell silent after the meeting, and in late 2014 the company’s Echo plans were unveiled.
- It launched in 2015, and 70% of smart speaker users in the US are now opting for the Amazon Echo.
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Amazon has reportedly met with multiple tech entrepreneurs over the years to apparently discuss acquisitions and investments only to turn around and create surprisingly similar products, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday.
One of those entrepreneurs was Leor Grebler, who launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 and raised $ 36,000 for his voice-activated Ubi device. It hit the market long before the Amazon Echo debut in mid-2015.
Grebler told the outlet that he began meeting with Amazon in late 2012 to discuss its technology, with the impression that Amazon may have wanted to acquire Ubi or at least license the technology. Shortly thereafter, in 2013, he demonstrated his device and revealed proprietary information in a meeting with a group of Amazon executives, which included two who would later be involved in speaker Echo’s project, Grebler told the Journal.
“They saw all the things we wanted to do with the device [like] music and shopping, “Grebler told the WSJ.” It was almost a roadmap for the product. “
Before the demo, Amazon told Grebler that it would end its confidentiality agreement, which both parties previously signed. Grebler told the store that the move gave him the impression that Amazon was seriously considering acquiring Ubi.
Amazon was silent on the radio after the meeting, and later news emerged in late 2014 that Amazon was planning to unveil its Echo device, which then hit the market in June 2015. Grebler said it did not have the funds to carry. Amazon to court.
An Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ that the company began modifying plans for its Echo device long before it met with Grebler regarding Ubi.
According to an early 2020 eMarketer report, nearly 70% of smart speaker consumers opt for Amazon’s Echo device, making the Seattle-based company the market leader.
The report comes as Amazon and the rest of the Big Four (Google, Facebook, and Apple) prepare for an antitrust hearing on Monday where they will testify before Congress. The hearing is held to investigate whether the anti-competitive business practices of the four goliaths have helped them gain monopolistic control in their respective markets.
