Jeff Bezos gives Android the credit it deserves
I still remember when the Kindle Fire was still nothing more than a rumor, every blogger who wanted to see the end of Android (*cough* MG Siegler *cough*) spoke of how Amazon was about to not just put a fork on the OS, but also end up stabbing it to it’s death. That never happened, and if I were to argue I’d say it probably strengthened the Android tablet market even if just slightly by giving OEMs a model to follow to register big sales numbers, while at the same time encouraging developers to create apps for the bigger devices.
The explanation these bloggers gave was that Amazon was feeding off Google’s hard-work, and they are. Jeff Bezos admitted it himself, and has given credit where its due.
Android is accomplishing everything that Amazon needs it to and, at the same time, giving the company flexibility to customize things. We treat Android like Linux, and so it’s a base OS layer. We have a large dedicated team that customizes Android and that’s what you see on the Kindle Fire.
The Kindle Fire’s success is Android’s success, even if not to the same degree as that of the Nexus 7. Of course, the issue with these bloggers is that they think that Google wasn’t aware of the possibility of this happening. Most of them never seem to get Android nor the openness behind it. Or, the simpler, clearer explanation, they just don’t want to remove their rose-tinted glasses.