Amazon is proceeding with an ambitious plan to ditch Google’s Android as the underlying software that powers its Fire TV devices, and shift to its own platform, known as Vega OS.
The company is set to launch the first Fire TV devices powered by Vega OS later this year, according to a report from the well-connected journalist Janko Roettgers, author of the Lowpass newsletter.
According to Roettgers, any applications on the new Fire TV devices will have to be rewritten entirely from scratch, as they won’t be compatible with existing Android apps.
Word of Amazon’s Linux-based Vega OS first emerged in late 2023, and a number of its Echo smart speakers are already believed to be running the software. But to date, we’ve yet to see any Fire TV devices running it. Instead, its existing Fire TVs and Fire TV streaming sticks all run Fire OS, which is essentially just a tweaked version of the Android TV platform.
But Amazon wants to move away from its reliance on arch-rival Google’s technology and create its own software ecosystem, and is now preparing to embark on that transition, Roettgers claims:
“The company plans to release a first TV streaming device powered by its still-unannounced Vega OS later this year and has been courting major publishers to bring their apps to the platform, I’ve been able to confirm with sources familiar with the company’s plans as well as through a number of leaks.”
Developers currently need to tweak the UI of their Android apps to get them to run on Fire TV devices, but it’s not a major headache, which explains why there are hundreds of apps available on most Fire TV streaming sticks and televisions.
But with Vega OS, those Android-based apps will no longer be compatible. As such, if services such as Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube want to offer their applications on future Fire TV devices powered by Vega OS, they’re going to need to make new ones from scratch using the Kepler SDK provided by Amazon.
Fortunately for Amazon, its Fire TV devices are quite popular among consumers, and that has given it enough weight to convince a handful of developers to get onboard with the idea. Roettgers says it has been “courting major publishers” and that Paramount, Rakuten and BBC subsidiary UKTV have all been convinced to build apps specifically for the Vega OS platform. Of course, Amazon is sure to make a Vega OS-compatible Amazon Prime Video app too, and there will likely be others.
That said, it’s not clear if Amazon has managed to convince Netflix and Google et al to rewrite their apps for its new platform. Should the new Fire TV devices lack Netflix and YouTube, they might be a much harder sell to consumers.
According to Roettgers, the first new Fire TV devices powered by Vega OS will likely be streaming sticks and set-top boxes rather than actual televisions. Earlier this year, an update to Amazon’s Fire TV documentation showed that its newest Fire TVs will switch to Android TV 14, which means partners such as Panasonic and TCL are likely still going to persist with a Fire TV variant based on Google’s software.
The launch of future Fire TVs powered by Vega OS will most likely be predicated on the success of the first generation of non-Android Fire TV sticks, and how many developers the company manages to get on board with the idea.
