Yesterday the New York Times Bits Blog caused a stir with a report that Amazon.com — specifically its Lab 126 unit in California — has been looking into building other gadgets beyond Kindle. It's not clear what, if anything, Amazon has in mind yet, though people have speculated about everything from smartphones to MP3 players to set-top boxes to tablets. I reached out to some Seattle technology veterans with connections to Amazon to ask them what kinds of new devices would make sense for the e-commerce giant. An analyst also cautioned not to get too excited about Amazon's hardware ambitions, at least yet. Their thoughts below.

Scott Jacobson

Scott Jacobson, partner at Madrona Venture Group of Seattle and a former Amazon executive:

Kindle is successful because it’s a purpose-built device. It does one thing very well…delivers an unparalleled reading experience to passionate readers. The dedicated, focused space feels like one Amazon can win/own. I’d be surprised if they build their own tablet or even an iPhone competitor, which would have to do lots of things well (and where they are already way behind Apple and Google).

If they are building non-Kindle devices, I’d like to see Amazon go after portable video. No device out there really nails portable video consumption. You have portable DVD players, handheld TVs, and digital jukebox-type products that address small pieces of the problem; but nobody brings it all together. This feels like a space where a disruptive product could carve out a large niche. I’d love to see Amazon build a device that incorporates:

On-demand premium video (TV and movie) streamed to the device – ad-supported, subscription, or rental;

User-generated video (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.), also streamed;

Live TV streamed over the Internet or via an integrated antenna;

Downloadable premium video (TV and movie), so you can ‘own’ / watch when not connected to the Internet.

Of course, this device would have high quality video/audio out so that you could plug it into your plasma TV at home or in the hotel room. It would be WiFi-enabled…possibly 4G wireless, so like on Kindle, you could access new content wherever you happen to be.

Brenda Spoonemore

Brenda Spoonemore, founder and CEO of Atomic Moguls, a Seattle startup backed by Amazon that develops sports fantasy games for social networks:

Increasingly, Amazon is in the content business—not just digital book downloads but of course video and why not social games? What would a media device look like that was optimized for video and social gaming rather than a Nintendo DS-type gaming device? Social games have more in common with movies than they do with videogames in many ways, and no one has conceived of a device that is focused on this kind of media consumption, except for perhaps the iPad.

Eric Best

Eric Best, founder and CEO of Mercent Corp., a Seattle company that helps big brand retailers sell and market products online on Amazon and other sites (He's also an Amazon veteran):

There's potential for Amazon to do more with tablets, whether it’s the Kindle or some derivative device. There's competitive pressure on the single-purpose devices, ultimately rendering them obsolete. A smartphone is more a stretch, but that’s a possibility also.

Susquehanna analyst Marianne Wolk, who covers Amazon, put out a research note today, titled, "Not Enough Job Postings to Support Major Uptick in Hardware Strategy Yet." Excerpts:

Our checks confirm hiring by Lab 126, although the actual commitment to hardware seems very small. We checked Amazon’s job listings site for Hardware openings worldwide and found only 15 job opportunities available. Examining the Lab 126 career site we also confirmed about 20+/- hardware-related positions of about 76 in total.

She later writes:

Amazon is hiring software engineers for browsers, web applications, etc. – suggesting it may be rethinking its strategy around a dedicated device (Kindle) and thinking about entering the battleground for multipurpose devices. Yet, the small number of hires may indicate it is in the testing stage, rather than a full on commitment. Longer term we see less demand for a dedicated eReader, like the current Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook, so that an ongoing commitment to an Amazon hardware device will mean it needs to introduce a new multipurpose device. With demand already shifting to multipurpose devices like Apple's iPad, it is not surprising that Amazon is beginning to make these investments. What is more interesting is Amazon's commitment to hardware, possibly fearing the book market (like the music market) will see integrated hardware-software solutions succeed in the digital migration.