Will Amazon Move Away From Android?
I keep wondering how much further Google will need to go in order to trigger Amazon going all-in on their Vega OS. Given the recent Android changes, maybe we’re already there.
Android still powers a number of Amazons devices; Most notably their Fire range of devices (TV streaming sticks and tablets). Google is now doing more work behind closed doors, and seems to have started a big move to ensuring that they’re in control of Android, and that the open source community, non-GMS devices, and smaller developers, are a secondary concern.
With Amazon Prime Video generating US$14bn for Amazon in 2023, and Fire TV being one of the most popular smart TV platforms (200+m users), moving it to Amazons’ internally created Linux distribution (VegaOS) and off of Android would seem to be a good move to de-risk any future problems that Google might create.
My understanding is the platform has been in development for at least a couple of years, and so there’s been time for content providers to add Vega OS to their list of supported platforms (and I wouldn’t be surprised to find Amazon offering to help fund that), so maybe this year we’ll see a Vega OS powered Fire TV stick, which could trigger the idea of moving back to Linux for embedded systems in a number of peoples heads.