It's a project that's been brewing for a while in Amazon's labs, but it's starting to take shape. The company is working to replace Fire OS, its current system based on open source Android (AOSP), with a brand new operating system developed internally: Vega OS. The goal is simple: to no longer depend on Android, even in its free version.
Cutting ties with Google
Fire OS is a derivative of AOSP, used in particular in Fire tablets and Fire TV players. It doesn't offer Google services, but the Play Store can be easily installed on it. With Vega OS, Amazon is going further: it's a Linux-based system, designed entirely by its teams. The goal is to control the user experience from start to finish.
The project is no longer at the rumor stage. Three devices already run Vega OS: the Echo Show 5, the Echo Hub, and the Echo Spot alarm clock. These are relatively simple products, which serve as a bit of a testing ground. A first streaming device—probably a Fire TV— is in preparation, with a release planned for this year.
Changing systems also means starting almost from scratch in terms of applications. Vega OS does not support Android apps, even those that worked on Fire OS. Amazon must therefore convince streaming services to develop specific versions for its new OS.
To help them, a development kit is being created: the Kepler SDK. It should facilitate the work of developers, particularly those who use the React Native framework, widely used in the mobile ecosystem.
Amazon is also organizing discussions with several publishers to encourage them to adapt their applications. And it's starting to bear fruit: Paramount, Rakuten, and UKTV (a BBC subsidiary) have already agreed to play the game. Other platforms are considering offering web versions of their services, less well integrated, but simpler to deploy.
The project is significant, but Amazon is not new to this. The company already manages its own OS on Kindle e-readers, also based on Linux. With Vega OS, it hopes to improve responsiveness, reduce update times, and optimize the performance of its devices. low price.
Eventually, all products in the Fire range could switch to Vega OS. For now, Amazon is moving cautiously, without an official announcement. But the lines of code are piling up, recruitment is intensifying, and the shift towards a 100% in-house system seems well underway.
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