(2) Amazon's market is different. They aren't competing with other "Android vendors." Yes it essentially runs Android, and by some peoples' definition, it's a t

(2) Amazon's market is different. They aren't competing with other "Android vendors." Yes it essentially runs Android, and by some peoples' definition, it's a tablet, but in the end what the Fire really is is a well-integrated portal to Amazon services and products. Nobody else can really offer that to consumers. Plus, it's highly unlikely that other vendors can afford to sell their hardware for $200. Also, a lot of people seem to be assuming that Amazon is looking to upgrade the underlying version of Android. I think they are forgetting a key part here; Amazon is running a fork, and I think it's pretty likely that the only compatibility they care about is with Android Apps (and Bezos has said they will work hard to keep the Kindle Apps compatible with other Android platforms). The OS version doesn't matter at all, as long as the device is fast and pleasant to use, which by all accounts, it is here. There's really no reason they couldn't just keep working on their port indefinitely with no regard to what Google is doing with future iterations of Android. And if a new feature pops up that they like, nothing would stop them from cherry-picking it and putting it in to their fork.