Amazon exec sells new ear buds while wearing one of Apple's AirPods
Is that an AirPod I see before me?
Honestly, Amazon launched so many new products at its latest hardware event that I'd have been confused, too.
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Which was the one that makes it more difficult to lie to your parents about your grades? And which was the one that had a clock and listens to -- and records -- your conversations unless you expressly ask it what Alexa heard?
Who cannot, then, sympathize with Amazon SVP of Devices and Services Dave Limp?
Not only did he have to make sure that he made the products seem exciting -- or, at least, intelligible -- he also had to speak to various talking heads on TV and say everything all over again.
Should one really be surprised, therefore, that he went on Bloomberg and appeared to endure a painful wardrobe malfunction.
As he explained how Amazon has taken "a different take on how audio is developed," some may have noticed -- as BuzzFeed News' John Paczkowski did -- that Limp was wearing, goodness, an AirPod. Yes, one made by Apple.
I fear this wasn't such a good look. Especially on a day when Amazon was launching its own Echo Buds, replete with Bose active noise reduction technology.
Naturally, I immediately contacted Amazon to ask whether Limp is a regular AirPods wearer and is struggling to kick the habit -- or whether this faux-pas may have been accidentally thrust upon him by circumstance. I will update, should I hear.
It does seem a peculiarly careless step for a company that so enjoys having absolute control over everything it does -- and everyone who uses its products.
Of course, this isn't the first time that one of Apple's rivals somehow managed to present one of Cupertino's items in a painfully fine light.
For years, Samsung has been plagued by its own endorsers using iPhones to emit tweets saying how much they love their Samsung phones -- or calling for iPhone burnings.
There's something a touch more hemorrhoid-inducing, however, when the person sporting the rival's product on TV is one of your own executives.
I know that some companies -- Microsoft, for example -- laud our new era of interoperability.
But to have Siri in your ear when you're lauding Alexa's astonishing powers seems to veer between disloyalty and impeachability.
I fear someone at Amazon may have got an earful over this one.