Late last year a report came out that Amazon would ditch Android for its own operating system, and if that report wasn’t enough, a job listing is making it pretty clear what’s going on.
Amazon has long used Android as the base of its products, with “Fire OS” being used on Fire TV, Fire Tablets, and even some smart displays. The version of Android used is the open-source version, which lacks Google apps and services. However, the company is apparently working to replace that with “VegaOS.” The new platform is said to rely on React Native and would require new apps to be built.
As spotted by AFTVNews, a job listing from Amazon was looking for a “Fire TV Experience Software Development Engineer.” The job listing’s description makes it abundantly clear that a key part of the role is focused on the transition from Android to the rumored “VegaOS,” because it quite literally says that’s what is happening, with Amazon saying that Fire TV is transitioning from “FOS/Android” (Fire OS/Android) to “native/Rust” and even explicitly mentioning React Native.
Implement and deliver features on the Fire TV client codebase as it transitions from FOS/Android to native/Rust and React Native.
Top comment by Isaac
Amazon is realizing people only buy their devices to load them with the Play Store or sideload apps to access illegal IPTV services. It's hard to make that difficult when Android is open, so the only way to close it off and control end to end is make your own closed OS (à la Roku). On one end, they have greater control of the user experience and Amazon integration, on the other end, these things get bought in mass quantities by people who load them with custom apps, VPNs, and OSes. There will probably be less of the sticks and boxes sold overall.
This is just interesting move to remove a customer demographic (tinkerers) at a time when sales are falling for third party streaming boxes and dongles due to smart TVs and the ongoing shift to personal devices (I.E. iPads). I also can't imagine getting developers on board will be easy. If people's app of choice isn't available, they'll just buy a Roku stick, Onn box, Chromecast+GTV.
The listing, which has since been removed, provides extremely strong evidence of Amazon’s plans, which is probably why it was so quickly removed.
Last year it was also spotted that one of Amazon’s smart displays has already transitioned to this new platform, ditching its previous (and little-known) Android base.
It’s still unclear when the change will be made, but it’s clear that Amazon is pouring resources into this behind the scenes.
More on Amazon:
- Report: Amazon will ditch Android in ‘all of its new devices’ starting with Fire TV
- Amazon launches redesigned Alexa app – it looks just like the Google Home app now
- Amazon Fire TV and smart displays get their own version of Chromecast with ‘Matter Casting’
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