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Couldn’t fit enough ads in the android UX so they’re starting from scratch. /s There isn’t a technical reason to do this other than pulling support from Google

Couldn’t fit enough ads in the android UX so they’re starting from scratch. /s There isn’t a technical reason to do this other than pulling support from Google as they continually show how much Amazon truly sees them as a competitor. It also shows a roadmap possibility, like Amazon eventually wanting control of their own hardware or chips (which is exactly what they are doing: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/take-a-look-inside-the-lab-where-aws-makes-custom-chips https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/take-a-look-inside-the-...) to compete with Apple in custom silicon.

blacksmith_tb 3y ago
Seems like a Pyrrhic victory though? It sounds like Vega will be similar to ChromeOS, boot into a browser, more or less. That could work for consuming Amazon's own content like Video or Kindle, sure. And Netflix etc. should work, but no native apps may turn off some potential customers I would think.
- graphe 3y ago
  The people who buy it to install custom apps are not the ones they want and would like to remove. Their core userbase doesn't care about it.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  The original Kindles already have a custom Linux distribution anyway. Most people buy these devices for Amazon services.
arrakeenrevived 3y ago
>other than pulling support from Google as they continually show how much Amazon truly sees them as a competitor. It seems the opposite to me. The article talks about this. Google has contractual limitations on manufacturers that ship devices with Android that says they are not allowed to also manufacture devices with forked versions of Android. This was making it hard for Amazon to find any manufacturers that contractually even could make Fire devices (since FireOS is a fork). It seems like Google was the one pulling support from Amazon.

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Couldn’t fit enough ads in the android UX so they’re starting from scratch. /s There isn’t a technical reason to do this other than pulling support from Google

by happytiger 3y ago

blacksmith_tb 3y ago
Seems like a Pyrrhic victory though? It sounds like Vega will be similar to ChromeOS, boot into a browser, more or less. That could work for consuming Amazon's own content like Video or Kindle, sure. And Netflix etc. should work, but no native apps may turn off some potential customers I would think.
- graphe 3y ago
  The people who buy it to install custom apps are not the ones they want and would like to remove. Their core userbase doesn't care about it.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  The original Kindles already have a custom Linux distribution anyway. Most people buy these devices for Amazon services.
arrakeenrevived 3y ago
>other than pulling support from Google as they continually show how much Amazon truly sees them as a competitor. It seems the opposite to me. The article talks about this. Google has contractual limitations on manufacturers that ship devices with Android that says they are not allowed to also manufacture devices with forked versions of Android. This was making it hard for Amazon to find any manufacturers that contractually even could make Fire devices (since FireOS is a fork). It seems like Google was the one pulling support from Amazon.