Amazon launches ‘MayDay’: a Skype-like tech support for Kindle

Amazon may have launched new Kindle versions but it seems the most exciting part of the launch is cool new feature called MayDay. The feature is a built-in remote support and instant customer support helpline for every Kindle Fire HDX.

“With the Mayday button, our goal is to revolutionize tech support,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO in a press release. “With a single tap, an Amazon expert will appear on your Fire HDX and can co-pilot you through any feature by drawing on your screen, walking you through how to do something yourself, or doing it for you—whatever works best.”

The feature is designed to help customers who may not quite understand their device or need other forms of customer support.

“Things that you do every day, you know how to do, but things you do once every couple of months, you sort of forget,” said Bezos. “Describing to the customer where to tap and what to do is very difficult. Here, our tech-support agents can just draw on your screen.”

The feature connects users to an Amazon tech support representative in a Skype like way. What’s really cool is the tech support agent is able to see what app the user has open on their screen and even take control of the user’s device to resolve whatever problem they are having, working pretty much the same way TeamViewer and other remote desktop apps do. For the global ecommerce/hardware company, MayDay is a “revolutionary on-device tech support.”

MayDay is available 24 hours a day every day of the week, with a dedicated button in the tablet’s Quick Settings menu. As cool and free as the feature is, Bezos says he is not sure how much people will actually use it.

“Initially, a lot of people will use it just to show it off,” Bezos said. “We want to encourage that. It’s a ‘wow’ feature.”

You can watch the feature in action here.