Amazon is purportedly channeling its efforts into developing its own Linux-based OS in a bid to substitute Android on its non-tablet devices like Fire TVs, and smart displays.
I am well aware that this is unrelated to Ubuntu – but still, it incites excitement!
Intelligence on Amazon’s new OS, internally known as ‘Vega’, has reached us via Janko Roettgers, a journalist at Lowpass. This codename brings back memories of the worst Android tablet I had the misfortune of owning.
Roettgers reportedly engaged with insiders who claimed that Amazon is on a mission to create a worthy competitor to iOS/Android. The task of building this OS has reportedly been assigned to “hundreds of people” who are part of the Amazon Device OS group.
This includes former Mozilla engineer Zibi Braniecki, who tweeted earlier this year to say he is working at Amazon on a “next generation Operating System for Smart Home, Automotive, and other Amazon Devices product lines” (sic).
“Most of the OS development is already done,” Roettgers’ sources add. They say they expect Vega to begin shipping on Fire TVs early next year. Additionally, an SDK is being readied for release so developers have time to port their apps to it ahead of its debut.
“Amazon’s new operating system is also based on a flavor of Linux, and is using a more web-forward application model. App developers are being told to use React Native as an application framework, which allows them to build native apps with Javascript-powered interfaces,” Roettgers says.
React Native is a smart choice because it’s cross-platform, making it easy for developers who already build iOS/Android apps using it to bring them to Amazon Vega (don’t get used to the name btw, it’s possible it won’t be called this if/when announced).
Although Android is a Linux-based OS and Amazon’s FireOS is based on Android, Vega is not another Android fork or rooted in AOSP. This is an entirely new concept.
According to sources cited by Roettgers, Amazon’s ultimate aim is to no longer rely on Android for all future hardware devices.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Rooted in Vega is going to be used for Fire TV, Echo devices, IoT, internal devices, and will probably emerge in Amazon’s automotive aspirations when those become reality.
So, much as we might want it, Vega won’t be dethroning Android, won’t be ushering in a slew of top-tier apps to benefit the standard Linux distros, nor will Amazon go all out and make something wildly impressive like its own Linux tablet UI.
It’s well-known that Amazon has shelved projects even after investing substantial time, money, and resources in their development.
However, the potential success of Vega could bring about considerable changes. The hypothetical success of Vega among consumers could open up unknown opportunities about what it could manage, run, or facilitate in the future.
The implementation of Vega could significantly decrease Amazon’s dependency on Android (and, to some extent, Google), permitting quicker innovation (considering even Fire TV devices operate on Android 7), while also offering a common platform for all their devices.