Amazon's effort to ditch Android on Fire TV may be taking shape

News
By Jay Bonggolto
published

The new software based on Linux is supposedly codenamed 'Vega.'

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) review
(Image credit: Andrew Myrick / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Amazon is ditching Android on Fire TV and is in the process of developing its own operating system, as revealed by a recent job listing.
  • The job posting was for a Fire TV Experience Software Development Engineer, suggesting a major overhaul of Fire TV's OS.
  • The potential hire is expected to implement features during the transition from FOS/Android to native/Rust and React Native, with Rust likely being the backbone of the future Amazon Fire TV OS.

A recent job listing has revealed that Amazon is ditching Android on Fire TV and working on a fresh operating system.

The job listing, which has since been taken down, was for a Fire TV Experience Software Development Engineer, as spotted by AFTVNews. The job details strongly hint that the recruit will be overhauling Fire TV's OS, swapping out Android for a new in-house operating system.

According to the listing, the potential hire will "implement and deliver features on the Fire TV client codebase as it transitions from FOS/Android to native/Rust and React Native." FOS is short for Fire OS, and it's a safe bet that Rust will be the backbone of whatever native OS powers future Amazon Fire TV devices.

We've reached out to Amazon for comment, but the company wasn't immediately available as of this writing.

Towards the end of last year, news dropped that Amazon plans to kick Android to the curb on its smart displays, TVs, and other smart home devices. Instead, the company was supposedly cooking up a Linux-based software called "Vega OS."

The main beef with Android was that Amazon was stuck with the AOSP version, which trails behind the mainstream version you find on most smartphones these days.

It looks like the online retail giant is finally making the jump from Android to its very own operating system for its Fire devices.

For many years, Amazon has built its products on the Android foundation, running Fire OS on Fire TV, Fire Tablets, and smart displays. It's an open-source Android, missing the native Google apps and services. But Amazon's version is a forked one that still has a bit of a Google connection.

Meanwhile, the fresh platform requires building all-new apps. Even though Amazon pulled the job listing in a flash, it's basically a nod to its grand plan of bidding farewell to Android.

Jay Bonggolto
Jay Bonggolto
News Writer & Reviewer

Jay Bonggolto always keeps a nose for news. He has been writing about consumer tech and apps for as long as he can remember, and he has used a variety of Android phones since falling in love with Jelly Bean. Send him a direct message via Twitter or LinkedIn.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • joeldf
    Wonder how that'll work with the library of apps that support Fire TV today.

    Will they run in an android compatible runtime?

    Will they need to be recompiled for a new OS?

    Sounds like they want to try what BlackBerry did back in 2013 with the release of BlackBerry 10. A new OS that developers can write for, or just port the existing Android app and run in the Android runtime built into BB10. It worked, but was not well optimized. BB10 eventually died 8 years later.

    (Technically, the OS still runs on the phone, but all back-end ID/Protect/support services and app store are all shut down).

    Now, Amazon does have more resources and maybe slightly more pull (BlackBerry had to beg and even offered money to developers), and certainly more market presence, but they seem to be proposing a true third ecosystem.

    I just don't see that working out very well.
    Reply
  • gendo667
    joeldf said:
    Wonder how that'll work with the library of apps that support Fire TV today.

    Will they run in an android compatible runtime?

    Will they need to be recompiled for a new OS?

    Sounds like they want to try what BlackBerry did back in 2013 with the release of BlackBerry 10. A new OS that developers can write for, or just port the existing Android app and run in the Android runtime built into BB10. It worked, but was not well optimized. BB10 eventually died 8 years later.

    (Technically, the OS still runs on the phone, but all back-end ID/Protect/support services and app store are all shut down).

    Now, Amazon does have more resources and maybe slightly more pull (BlackBerry had to beg and even offered money to developers), and certainly more market presence, but they seem to be proposing a true third ecosystem.

    I just don't see that working out very well.
    My wife works for Whole Foods at a global level. I can tell you that Amazon is garbage at building their own software. I can't wait to see what they produce.
    Reply
  • Tigrisan
    I can tell you that my granddaughter has some favorite things she likes on YouTube and even that has to be downloaded every day because anything Google related disappears overnight. One way or another, Amazon is trying to eliminate anything Android and it's not just the operating system. I'm wondering when YouTubeTV will stop working as well.
    Reply