Amazon announces Build It programme: Allows you to vote on what product build next

Amazon has announced a new version of Kickstarter, a program called Build It. This programme allows consumers to vote on the products that Amazon will produce. As with Kickstarter, Amazon customers can choose a product to endorse, and if it receives enough support in 30 days, Amazon will develop it. Customers will only be charged if the product is designed and shipped.

A program like this will help Amazon decide which products might be popular even before it sets out to make them.

However, this is not the first time Amazon has tried something like this. The company had used a similar program in the past, called Day 1 Editions, to build experimental products like the Echo Frames smart glasses.

Amazon hasn't mentioned whether there are plans to use Build It for all products or whether it could also open up to outside inventors.

In recent years, Amazon has created many products with built-in Alexa, like microwaves, wall clocks, and eyeglasses, and many of them haven't taken off. A program like Amazon Build will allow the company to gauge customer interest in a product before it goes into full production.

For now, Amazon Build It is releasing three products: a smart sticky note printer ($ 89.99), a smart nutrition scale ($ 34.99), and a smart cuckoo clock ($ 79.99). Customers who endorse a product will get a pre-order discount, and the price will increase if the product is widely available.

The sticky note printer works with Alexa and uses thermal technology instead of ink to print little sticky notes. The smart scale can tell you how many calories are in specific foods. The cuckoo clock works with Alexa or Amazon Echo and has a mechanical pop - come out a cuckoo bird.

Amazon has mentioned in its announcement that it is not going to say how much money it needs to launch a particular product. Still, it will show a progress bar that will track how far along a product is and what percentage of support must be completed.

Products of the current concept will be available at promotional prices until March 19, and Amazon has said more ideas are in the works.