MG Siegler on the Competitive Implications of Amazon’s Purported Upcoming Tablet

He sees it as much more of a threat to Google than to Apple:

That’s why Google should be scared shitless of this Amazon tablet. Thanks to the “openness” of Android, Google has handed Amazon the keys to the Android kingdom. Amazon is going to launch a tablet that runs Android, but it will be fully Amazon’d. It will use Amazon’s Appstore, it will use Amazon movies, it will use Amazon books, it will use Amazon music, etc. Google will have no control over this, even though it will be the seminal Android tablet. That would be terrifying for any brand.

I’ve heard talk about Amazon’s Android skunkworks project for over a year. The gist of the whispers I’ve heard is that they’re not planning to use a stock version of Android, but instead they’ve more or less forked the OS, using Google’s Android as a foundation for Amazon’s tablet OS. Presumably, the Amazon Appstore is a sign that Amazon’s Android OS will be app-compatible with Android as we know it, but I don’t expect much if any Google branding or apps.

Barnes and Noble has already done the same thing with the Nook, but I suspect Amazon has something more ambitious in the works.

★ Thursday, 14 July 2011