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I love Amazon, but I wish they would integrate more with other companies. Did they really need to make their own app store? I own several kindles, and I was h

by tmaly 11y ago

I love Amazon, but I wish they would integrate more with other companies. Did they really need to make their own app store? I own several kindles, and I was hoping to play a few learning videos for my child on the kindle fire. Well, the Youtube support is quite lacking. I am not sure if this new video venture will work out. Youtube has quite a bit of momentum, and it has far more support across the mainstream devices than anyone else. Vimeo is second place in my mind, but I have not watched a video on there in ages.

Fogest 11y ago
You must not browse popular subreddits on reddit often. Vimeo is used there a lot for more professional kinds of videos from filmmakers and I see them a lot. There also has been A LOT of hate recently toward YouTube due to their pretty awful content id system. However even with the alternative I doubt people will switch. Too much work to switch to another platform and get the audience to move elsewhere. YouTube is working to fix the content id problem so likely people will go back to loving it and all will be the same. I doubt amazon will have much success, nor do I think they would do it any better than Google.
RyJones 11y ago
the short answer to your first question is yes. You can't get Google Play services (the store) without being Android, and there are some differences between FireOS and Android that support features of Kindle Fire but preclude the Kindle Fire from running straight CAF[0] Android. [0] https://www.codeaurora.org/ https://www.codeaurora.org/
- andybak 11y ago
  It's fairly trivial to install Google Play and associated apps on the Fire and it can be done without rooting - just by sideloading an APK.
  - RyJones 11y ago
    you are correct, but Amazon cannot do that. The changes to Android are small but large enough that Amazon can't call Fire OS Android.
Finnucane 11y ago
"Did they really need to make their own app store?" Yes, they did. Not for your benefit, but for theirs. They're a retailer, and they want to control their own ecosystem. Does Walmart let Target have a corner of their stores to sell stuff in? No,they don't.
- Splines 11y ago
  There are few real-world analogies for the vertical that is Amazon. We don't have brick and mortar construction companies that also are a retailer (as far as I know). Amazon is like a company that builds houses, and will only allow Amazon appliances inside the house, even though other appliances generally work fine. Your buddy across the street has a house made by Google, and their house can have any appliance, which kinda irks you.
  - Finnucane 11y ago
    Well, not quite. The point is that you can't get anything for your Amazon "house" that Amazon isn't taking a cut from the sale. (And in ye olde days, there was a time when you could open the Sears, Roebuck catalog, and order, literally, a whole house and everything that needed to go inside it, and have it delivered to you.)
eclipxe 11y ago
Yes, yes they did need to create their own Appstore.
detaro 11y ago
> Vimeo is second place in my mind, but I have not watched a video on there in ages. I see quite a few Vimeo videos, but never on their page, all as embeds on other sites.
bduerst 11y ago
Same. I was reading on a kindle yesterday and wanted to internet search a highlighted phrase. The kindle let me look it up in a dictionary, even search wikipedia, but no internet search.

by tmaly 11y ago

Fogest 11y ago

You must not browse popular subreddits on reddit often. Vimeo is used there a lot for more professional kinds of videos from filmmakers and I see them a lot. There also has been A LOT of hate recently toward YouTube due to their pretty awful content id system. However even with the alternative I doubt people will switch. Too much work to switch to another platform and get the audience to move elsewhere. YouTube is working to fix the content id problem so likely people will go back to loving it and all will be the same. I doubt amazon will have much success, nor do I think they would do it any better than Google.

RyJones 11y ago

the short answer to your first question is yes. You can't get Google Play services (the store) without being Android, and there are some differences between FireOS and Android that support features of Kindle Fire but preclude the Kindle Fire from running straight CAF[0] Android. [0] https://www.codeaurora.org/ https://www.codeaurora.org/

andybak 11y ago
It's fairly trivial to install Google Play and associated apps on the Fire and it can be done without rooting - just by sideloading an APK.
- RyJones 11y ago
  you are correct, but Amazon cannot do that. The changes to Android are small but large enough that Amazon can't call Fire OS Android.

Finnucane 11y ago

"Did they really need to make their own app store?" Yes, they did. Not for your benefit, but for theirs. They're a retailer, and they want to control their own ecosystem. Does Walmart let Target have a corner of their stores to sell stuff in? No,they don't.

Splines 11y ago
There are few real-world analogies for the vertical that is Amazon. We don't have brick and mortar construction companies that also are a retailer (as far as I know). Amazon is like a company that builds houses, and will only allow Amazon appliances inside the house, even though other appliances generally work fine. Your buddy across the street has a house made by Google, and their house can have any appliance, which kinda irks you.
- Finnucane 11y ago
  Well, not quite. The point is that you can't get anything for your Amazon "house" that Amazon isn't taking a cut from the sale. (And in ye olde days, there was a time when you could open the Sears, Roebuck catalog, and order, literally, a whole house and everything that needed to go inside it, and have it delivered to you.)

eclipxe 11y ago

Yes, yes they did need to create their own Appstore.

detaro 11y ago

> Vimeo is second place in my mind, but I have not watched a video on there in ages. I see quite a few Vimeo videos, but never on their page, all as embeds on other sites.

bduerst 11y ago

Same. I was reading on a kindle yesterday and wanted to internet search a highlighted phrase. The kindle let me look it up in a dictionary, even search wikipedia, but no internet search.