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Google's applications are not part of Android. Putting a skin on Android and not shipping it with Google apps is NOT a fork. Even if you want to consider it on

Google's applications are not part of Android. Putting a skin on Android and not shipping it with Google apps is NOT a fork. Even if you want to consider it one in a technical definition, it's not a significant one. It's as much a fork of Android as CyanogenMod is. (CM does not come with Google Apps, though they can be added after-the-fact).

Adaptive 15y ago
You made the most important comment in this thread. I really would like to see TC clear this up. Do they really mean fork or, as I suspect and as you state, is this just Android without the google apps baked in? Market is a bigger question. Without considering manually side loading the apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to install google apps on the device as they are, for the most part, all available via Android Market right now. Given that Amazon doesn't provide mail, maps or any of the other useful google apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to download them from Android Market, somehow.
- trotsky 15y ago
  It won't have android market access without a hack, just Amazon's market. The lack of a camera (among other things) means it doesn't meet the hardware standards google requires for shipping google apps which includes the market. Not that Amazon would want to anyway, they clearly would like to drive traffic to their store.
  - Adaptive 15y ago
    That all sounds right but still, what kind of compelling is an android tablet without gmail? I can't imagine they expect people to put up with imap. I can understand the drive-traffic-to-our-content-ecosystem, but there's some stuff a tablet just has to do these days. Then again, no camera, maybe they are positioning it as a fancy kindle, in which $250 is too much.
- drivebyacct2 15y ago
  I feel slimy making this comment, but "trotsky is completely correct". Users can't side load Google Apps, because they require the Market. The Market (and it's underlying dependency of Google Talk [yes, it sounds funny, look it up, I wish I were kidding]), requires special installation and components that frankly I can't explain (I don't know how to). But I know enough to tell you that you can't simply download Market.apk and install it.
frou_dh 15y ago
Just the name "CyanogenMod" makes me itch with a sense of fiddlyness completely at odds with why tablets are a welcome break from normal computers.

Adaptive 15y ago

You made the most important comment in this thread. I really would like to see TC clear this up. Do they really mean fork or, as I suspect and as you state, is this just Android without the google apps baked in? Market is a bigger question. Without considering manually side loading the apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to install google apps on the device as they are, for the most part, all available via Android Market right now. Given that Amazon doesn't provide mail, maps or any of the other useful google apps, I'm assuming that users will be able to download them from Android Market, somehow.

trotsky 15y ago
It won't have android market access without a hack, just Amazon's market. The lack of a camera (among other things) means it doesn't meet the hardware standards google requires for shipping google apps which includes the market. Not that Amazon would want to anyway, they clearly would like to drive traffic to their store.
- Adaptive 15y ago
  That all sounds right but still, what kind of compelling is an android tablet without gmail? I can't imagine they expect people to put up with imap. I can understand the drive-traffic-to-our-content-ecosystem, but there's some stuff a tablet just has to do these days. Then again, no camera, maybe they are positioning it as a fancy kindle, in which $250 is too much.
drivebyacct2 15y ago
I feel slimy making this comment, but "trotsky is completely correct". Users can't side load Google Apps, because they require the Market. The Market (and it's underlying dependency of Google Talk [yes, it sounds funny, look it up, I wish I were kidding]), requires special installation and components that frankly I can't explain (I don't know how to). But I know enough to tell you that you can't simply download Market.apk and install it.

frou_dh 15y ago

Just the name "CyanogenMod" makes me itch with a sense of fiddlyness completely at odds with why tablets are a welcome break from normal computers.