Amazon Looks To Ditch Homegrown Software For Android in Fire Tablet Revamp (reuters.com) 10
Amazon is plotting a big change to its Fire tablet lineup following years of escalating gripes from consumers and app developers over the company's homegrown operating system. Reuters: As part of a project known internally as Kittyhawk, Amazon plans to release a higher-end tablet as soon as next year offering the Android operating system software for the first time, according to six people familiar with the matter. Since the Fire tablet's introduction in 2011, Amazon has used what is known as a "forked" version of Android with custom modifications that make it work like a unique operating system.
[...] The first Amazon Android tablet, slated for next year, will be pricier than current models, the people said. One of them said Amazon had discussed a $400 price tag, nearly double the cost of its current higher-end $230 Fire Max 11 tablet. IPads, by comparison, range from $350 to $1,200. Reuters could not learn additional specifications for the planned Amazon tablet, such as screen size and speaker quality or memory capacity. Amazon historically has avoided using software or other products from third parties, preferring to develop the services in-house or, barring that, to acquire a competitor.
[...] The first Amazon Android tablet, slated for next year, will be pricier than current models, the people said. One of them said Amazon had discussed a $400 price tag, nearly double the cost of its current higher-end $230 Fire Max 11 tablet. IPads, by comparison, range from $350 to $1,200. Reuters could not learn additional specifications for the planned Amazon tablet, such as screen size and speaker quality or memory capacity. Amazon historically has avoided using software or other products from third parties, preferring to develop the services in-house or, barring that, to acquire a competitor.
Google store? (Score:4, Informative)
Er (Score:2)
Er, wasn't it just a very lightly modified version of Android before?
I have one ... not much different; just didn't have Play Store. Which I could and did sideload ...
Re: (Score:2)
It is a lightly modified version of Android, for sure, and several revisions older than the version of Android used by other devices.
interesting... (Score:2)
I could have sworn the rumors prior to this were that they were going the other direction (ditching the Android-based FireOS for something not Android-related). Which would have meant developers having to make special apps for it instead of being able to retool existing Android apps. I guess that was more about Fire TV devices, but that would also mean they are splitting the platforms from each other.
Customized costs too much (Score:2)
I've seen this before: Samsung had an excellent version of Android OS for phones, called Tenzen: It provided the user with a lot of control. But Samsung did fewer and fewer updates for their Tenzen OS phones. Then, they ripped the guts out of Tenzen and made it Android OS for Tvs. Samsung phones now contain standard Android plus all the apps where Samsung pretends it's equal to Google.
Re: (Score:3)
Samsung had an excellent version of Android OS for phones, called Tenzen
That's Tizen, and it was explicitly not Android - it was its own Linux-based OS. The reason Samsung developed it was, at its root, because Google won't let a vendor sell both AOSP and GMS devices; if you are going to sell Google-certified GMS devices, you have to agree not to sell non-Google-certified Android devices. What Samsung was trying to do with all their bullshit parallel app store universe was this: Sell GMS devices (which are the only devices people in primary markets will buy) with Samsung's musi
Right after killing off the Amazon App market (Score:2)
They seem not to know what they are doing themselves.
Too, late (Score:2)
I tossed two fire tablets in recycling. None of my neighbors were interested. I couldn't even give them away to the high school kids that walk by my house. Fire tablets with fireOS are essentially worthless.
Re: (Score:2)