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We saw the launch of the Kindle Fire and have seen Amazon's hand with the custom build of Android that looks/feels nothing like Android... anyone have any guess

by rkalla 15y ago

We saw the launch of the Kindle Fire and have seen Amazon's hand with the custom build of Android that looks/feels nothing like Android... anyone have any guesses why they would want WebOS? Amazon already has the Android store, all the Android integration done for the Fire and the Java/Android expertise in house... where does WebOS fit in?

ary 15y ago
User interface design perhaps? Although my impression is that all that talent already bailed on HP.
sksultan 15y ago
a) HP's probably offering it for pennies. Too good of a deal for any tablet/mobile player. b) Amazon Silk is a game changer that probably has Google fuming. Buying Palm is probably a hedge bet in case Google clamps down. The end-user platform(devise, OS, browser) war between Google, Apple, and MS is to control the user data. Amazon wants to make sure it has an unrestricted piece of that data.
- rkalla 15y ago
  Interesting take on it being a preemptive move. I wouldn't have seen that kind of competitive advantage in owning Palm... again, since it doesn't look to be a talent acquisitions and it isn't for patents (?) then the only thing left is WebOS, in which case what do these guys want with a incompatible clean-room OS? Google already has too many mobile OS's and Amazon's expertise is elsewhere. I feel like I'm missing some core component of Palm here that makes it valuable to even still be talked about. Had they had some amazing version of Android with a custom browser and all that, I'd understand this a lot more quickly.
- pyrmont 15y ago
  Amazon is just about to start encouraging people to buy Android applications for the Amazon App Store that presumably wouldn't work on a webOS tablet. If Amazon are in the running, it can only be for the patent portfolio. If Google were to clamp down on Android, why wouldn't Amazon just continue developing their Android fork? Seems like it would be a lot more effort to get webOS to where they need it to be.
- mappu 15y ago
  I don't know if Silk has Google "fuming".. Opera Mini has been doing the remote-rendering thing for years and years now. It is the most widely used mobile browser, with 113+ million users and 2+ billion daily pageviews.
  - alttag 15y ago
    > [Opera] is the most widely used mobile browser Use appears to be mostly from Asia. In Europe, iPhone leads by a wide margin, followed by Android; in North America, Android leads, followed by iPhone [2]. Opera makes at best a fourth place showing on these continents. To your point about "fuming", I think you're right. There's no evidence that Google's analytics or search (advertising) products will be negatively impacted by silk. 1: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-eu-monthly-201009-201108 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-eu-monthly-201009-... 2: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-na-monthly-201009-201108 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-na-monthly-201009-...
    - nazar 15y ago
      I can narrow down Asia to Post Soviet asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan etc. Internet is normally overpriced in these countries and opera mini has nice compression features and dedicated "turn off images" button, which is very handy. And not everyone here can afford high end iOS/android devices, so for Symbian, Opera mini is the best choice.
potatolicious 15y ago
Does it have to be the webOS division? I'd imagine Amazon wouldn't have that much interest in Palm's software, but Palm is also one of the few entities in North America that has experience designing hardware from end to end. We know that Amazon had to outsource the design and build of the Fire to an outsider, no doubt it would be preferable to bring that in-house to a team of world class industrial designers.
- knotty66 15y ago
  The hardware was the weakest link. Also, It was my understanding that a lot of the hardware division have been released recently. Maybe Amazon just want some patents, some good engineers and a backup OS for leverage against Google?

by rkalla 15y ago

ary 15y ago

User interface design perhaps? Although my impression is that all that talent already bailed on HP.

sksultan 15y ago

a) HP's probably offering it for pennies. Too good of a deal for any tablet/mobile player. b) Amazon Silk is a game changer that probably has Google fuming. Buying Palm is probably a hedge bet in case Google clamps down. The end-user platform(devise, OS, browser) war between Google, Apple, and MS is to control the user data. Amazon wants to make sure it has an unrestricted piece of that data.

rkalla 15y ago
Interesting take on it being a preemptive move. I wouldn't have seen that kind of competitive advantage in owning Palm... again, since it doesn't look to be a talent acquisitions and it isn't for patents (?) then the only thing left is WebOS, in which case what do these guys want with a incompatible clean-room OS? Google already has too many mobile OS's and Amazon's expertise is elsewhere. I feel like I'm missing some core component of Palm here that makes it valuable to even still be talked about. Had they had some amazing version of Android with a custom browser and all that, I'd understand this a lot more quickly.
pyrmont 15y ago
Amazon is just about to start encouraging people to buy Android applications for the Amazon App Store that presumably wouldn't work on a webOS tablet. If Amazon are in the running, it can only be for the patent portfolio. If Google were to clamp down on Android, why wouldn't Amazon just continue developing their Android fork? Seems like it would be a lot more effort to get webOS to where they need it to be.
mappu 15y ago
I don't know if Silk has Google "fuming".. Opera Mini has been doing the remote-rendering thing for years and years now. It is the most widely used mobile browser, with 113+ million users and 2+ billion daily pageviews.
- alttag 15y ago
  > [Opera] is the most widely used mobile browser Use appears to be mostly from Asia. In Europe, iPhone leads by a wide margin, followed by Android; in North America, Android leads, followed by iPhone [2]. Opera makes at best a fourth place showing on these continents. To your point about "fuming", I think you're right. There's no evidence that Google's analytics or search (advertising) products will be negatively impacted by silk. 1: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-eu-monthly-201009-201108 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-eu-monthly-201009-... 2: http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-na-monthly-201009-201108 http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-na-monthly-201009-...
  - nazar 15y ago
    I can narrow down Asia to Post Soviet asian countries such as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan etc. Internet is normally overpriced in these countries and opera mini has nice compression features and dedicated "turn off images" button, which is very handy. And not everyone here can afford high end iOS/android devices, so for Symbian, Opera mini is the best choice.

potatolicious 15y ago

Does it have to be the webOS division? I'd imagine Amazon wouldn't have that much interest in Palm's software, but Palm is also one of the few entities in North America that has experience designing hardware from end to end. We know that Amazon had to outsource the design and build of the Fire to an outsider, no doubt it would be preferable to bring that in-house to a team of world class industrial designers.

knotty66 15y ago
The hardware was the weakest link. Also, It was my understanding that a lot of the hardware division have been released recently. Maybe Amazon just want some patents, some good engineers and a backup OS for leverage against Google?