Could Amazon fork Android? They're big enough and have enough engineering horsepower to do it. It feels like this is what they'd need to do to be confident that Android is feasible in the long run, since I think their cloud services/advertising and Google's eventually go head-on.
With the Amazon Appstore (one word, remember), I thought Android would become a lot more interesting, if Amazon made a phone for themselves that leverages the store, so it isn't as fragmented and unintelligible as "Android phones in general".
I'm sure Google wouldn't mind supporting their efforts.
As for a tablet, I don't really get where they're going with this; if I were them, I'd at least wait and let the other manufacturers test the waters first.
I don't think folks are talking about a phone - they're expecting a tablet. Amazon is already essentially the #2 player in the tablet market but they have no footprint in the phone market. I suspect they'd be perfectly happy leaving the phone market to other Android vendors and simply providing a Kindle reader app.
It doesn't seem like the other vendors are doing a very good job of "testing the waters". By the time they're done messing around, it might be too late. Seems like this is the year to either do it or not.
Eh, I think it's relevant to delineate e-readers like Kindle from app-centric tablets, "tAPPlets", like, say, the iPad.
E-ink readers are great on their own for obvious reasons and don't have to compete directly with the iPad. I don't know how well an app-centric Amazon tablet would do against Apple.
Amazon probably has the money to dip their feet and fail, but how well are any of the competitors doing by comparison?
They also obviously have an absurd customer base to tap, and they already have Kindle, on-demand video and rentals, but I don't know if that is going to cut it. If they focus on being cheaper, maybe, but good luck with that. It would be interesting if they partnered with Readability, at least just as a cute "fuck you" to Apple.
They'll have to focus a little differently or frame their device in an interesting way. Time will tell.
The fact that everyone else is doing a horrific job at making a tablet is a bigger sign, to me, that Amazon has a shot at pulling it off.
One thing that stuck out to me recently is that on Amazon's left sidebar digital content is now on the top. If Amazon loses their battle over state sales tax then they need something that puts them on a level playing field and that is going to be digital content.
In my opinion the difference between e-readers and tablets will very soon be non-existent.
Barnes & Noble has had some success aiming directly between those two types of devices. The Nook Color is priced at half an iPad and just over twice a Kindle and reportedly has sold well compared to 'offical' Android tablets. I can see Amazon chasing after that slice of the pie.
Except for all those 3G kindles. If they are working on a tablet, you can bet that "Whispernet" will feature prominently for delivery of music, video, and (dare I say it) a skype/facetime-like application.
That Whispernet works because the cost can easily be built into the device, or the books — ebooks aren't large downloads and therefore it's easy to set up cheap deals with carriers. After all, Kindle users won't be data hogs or cause network congestion (I say this from the view of a carrier, not that network congestion is acceptable).
I don't even think they would need to do it in house - if they can offer all of the on-line services that Google offers - gmail, maps, an app store etc, then Android vendors could use that as a way of distinguishing their offering from that of other Android vendors. I'm thinking of Nokia specifically - it would give them something that a plain-vanilla Android wouldn't have, and it would give them the freedom to get out from under Google's thumb, and really allow them to innovate.
