The next Steve Jobs isn't Jeff Bezos -- or so Bezos says

When you get a personal product walk through from Jeff Bezos, you learn a lot about the new Kindle tablets -- and about the Amazon CEO himself.



Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos isn't comfortable being described as the next Steve Jobs.
"That is a very complimentary thing to say," he responds humbly, "but it's not how I think about it -- that way. I think we have our own approaches and vision. Nobody would ever be the next Steve Jobs. He was a unique guy, and, you know it would be..." His voice trails off as he searches for the right words. Then he says, "That's not how I think about it. But it's often meant as a compliment and I certainly receive it that way. I'm very grateful to that kind of question but that's not how I think about it."

We're sitting in a conference room in Amazon's offices in Seattle and the real topic of conversation isn't Apple or Steve Jobs but Amazon's new Kindle tablets, which Bezos has been briefing us on -- or really demoing some of their key new features. But I couldn't help asking "Jeff," as he's referred to at Amazon, whether he was the next Steve, because it seemed like something you should ask if you only had a few minutes with Jeff Bezos.

This year, instead of doing its typical staged event to unveil the company's next-generation products, Amazon gave several press outlets the opportunity to fly out to Seattle and meet with Amazon executives, followed by a 30-45-minute small-group meeting with "Jeff" himself. I ended up with Mashable's Lance Ulanoff and Consumer Reports' Donna Tapellini.

The meeting started with Bezos going to the whiteboard and describing the new "third leg" of the company's vision in the devices business. He'd laid out the first two pieces at previous Kindle Fire events but he refreshed our memories: 1) Premium products at nonpremium prices. 2) We want to make money when people use our devices.