What was the codename for Amazon's Echo project?

Amazon’s Echo project was codenamed Doppler.

Development began inside Amazon’s Lab126 hardware division in the early 2010s, as the company explored a voice-controlled device that could sit in a home and respond to spoken requests. Amazon’s internal teams also referred to the effort as Project D, but Doppler is the widely cited codename associated with the Echo project.

The device was originally envisioned as a smart speaker, not primarily as a smart-home hub. It was initially expected to use “Amazon” as its wake word and was reportedly considered for the name Amazon Flash. Lab126 objected to those choices because “Amazon” was too common in everyday speech, so the product name became Echo and its assistant adopted the wake word Alexa.

The first Echo was announced on November 6, 2014, initially for Amazon Prime members and invited customers. It became broadly available in the United States in 2015. The original cylinder contained a seven-microphone array and connected to Amazon’s cloud services, allowing Alexa to answer questions, play audio, manage lists and alarms, and later control compatible smart-home devices. The Seattle headquarters tower named Doppler commemorates the codename.