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I still remember when the Kindle Fire was still nothing more than a rumor, every blogger who wanted to see the end of Android (*cough* MG Siegler *cough*) spoke of how Amazon was about to not just put a fork on the OS, but also end up stabbing it to it’s death. That never happened, and if I were to argue I’d say it probably strengthened the Android tablet market even if just slightly by giving OEMs a model to follow to register big sales numbers, while at the same time encouraging developers to create apps for the bigger devices.
The explanation these bloggers gave was that Amazon was feeding off Google’s hard-work, and they are. Jeff Bezos admitted it himself, and has given credit where its due.
Android is accomplishing everything that Amazon needs it to and, at the same time, giving the company flexibility to customize things. We treat Android like Linux, and so it’s a base OS layer. We have a large dedicated team that customizes Android and that’s what you see on the Kindle Fire.
The Kindle Fire’s success is Android’s success, even if not to the same degree as that of the Nexus 7. Of course, the issue with these bloggers is that they think that Google wasn’t aware of the possibility of this happening. Most of them never seem to get Android nor the openness behind it. Or, the simpler, clearer explanation, they just don’t want to remove their rose-tinted glasses.
The only problem with Amazon is their proprietary format on their eink readers
I don’t care who sells more. Samsung, Amazon, Asus, whomever. As long as it’s more CHOICE for android as a whole I’m happy. Android is about choice. Don’t like something? CHANGE IT. Don’t become a puppet and be dictated over what to like and what you can and cant do. You wouldn’t stand for it in life and you should stand for it in your mobile device.
I am a Nexus fan, so I like the pure Google experience and I think lot of people should do the same. But it is a good thing that companies like Amazon have completely changed the OS. Because we have seen time and time again what happens when companies gain to much power. Like Microsoft with windows. But what I’m talking about probably is not in anyone’s head about Google because of these things happening, the thoughts never even occurred, which is a great thing.
that’s great but there is no CHOICE with amazon, they fork the system and lock it that it seems more like iOS than android, who would want to buy a locked down “Android” tablet with no play store? -_- and yeah pop up ads
Root. Rom. Profit :D – Although with some devices its not necessary. With my Nexus 7 all i did was root and throw a custom kernel on top of stock rom. Using Nova Launcher and all is great in the world.
The difference is amazon isn’t trying to destroy all other os’s. So therefore they compete and give you a “choice”. Apple on the other hand is spending your hard earned money on courts and lawyers, trying to take choice away from you. Whatever money is spent on offense or defense is paid for by consumers.
He should give Android credit.
Instead of Amazon having to come up with its own OS, they just carved the crap out of Android, and it seems to have worked for them.
Amazon is a reliable app source for third party tablets that don’t have Google Play and the Google API on them. I have several of my apps there. Though nowhere near the Play sales the option works well for some of my users. Amazon just expanded paid app sales to Europe too. And…. Amazon developer support answers emails.
Yeah, for example after Google pulled Tubemate from Play, I could still get it from Amazon and other app stores like slideme.org.
One way in which the Kindle Fire HD can be good for Android is by motivating developers to produce more tablet-specific Android apps.
Indeed.
And, after the new Kindles were released, they sent out an email to all current Amazon app devs with tablet build, optimization, testing (they have their own emu), and marketing pointers.
He does what? I thought he went on the stage and said android tablets suck – and then proceed to talk about their tablet (not saying it was based on android)
Link would be helpful sir.
He said they didn’t sell very well because they were gadgets. And it’s true, except for Nexus 7, which is also about pushing content and services instead of just tech.
Google truly lives by its motto : Don’t be evil
Amazon brings more tablet apps to android. Sure, they may be for their appstore first but it’s just a hop skip and a jump away to Google Play.