with a custom OS, Amazon could better control the deployment of advertising and paid services to "a wide range of inexpensive devices."
It would seem unlikely that they would try to "upgrade" existing Fire devices that have already been sold, or even manufactured. Preserving settings/apps/features would be a difficult task, unless Amazon says screw it and tells existing users just to start over from factory reset (not out of the question).
This could create an opportunity for bargain hunters, as there would inevitably be a, well, Fire sale.
It sounds like they may roll it out to Fire TV devices, so possibly some of the models with new-ish android will have a fairly smooth upgrade path. They have been working on it for a while so they may have planned the current line of devices to be compatible with the update.
Not sure if Amazon actually cares about this or not, but possibly they could achieve better performance on the Fire TV devices instead of the sluggish interface that you get after a couple years of software updates. I would for sure try it on a Fire TV, I don't think they would (could) fit MORE ads in there, would they? Sounds like it would horrible for a tablet though.
I think if they updated the current line of fire tablets without somehow notifying what it entails in full and giving people the option to stay where they're at, it could very easily cause civil unrest... Not to mention the possibility of a lawsuit...It could also have the potential to brick modified devices (modified for side loading). I mean I'm saying that's the worst that could happen and not that will what actually happens.
Will be interesting to see if they rolll this out for tablet devices or TVs or both. Either way, what they will do about the 3rd party developers and apps (especially other video services) will be worth watching.
Android tablets haven't been interesting in years, but this defiantly cuts off the low-cost table for dashboard market.
Wasn’t the short lived Amazon Phone an inhouse OS? Or was it also an Android fork?
Losing Play Store access on my Fire HD tablet would definitely reduce it's usefulness for me.
Other than the kindle app, everything else I use on it is from the Play Store.
I really want to be wrong, but I believe that Amazon will follow the procedure adopted in Echo Show 15 in all Fire devices, blocking the sideload of apps...
Apparently the latest iteration of the Echo Show 5 is already running the new OS.
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