Kindle Fire owners named keenest Android app users

Amazon's Kindle Fire has grabbed more than a third of the overall Android tablet usage activity in less than three months on sale. So suggests Flurry, a maker of software usage analysis code built, the company claims, into "tens of thousands of Android apps, including many of the most popular" and able to give a statistically …

[Anonymous Coward]

Errm, no suprise here

As the Fire runs a gimped version of Android that does not have the open Google marketplace, it means all content has to go through Amazon and their strict app guidelines (20k+ app downloads on Android marketplace that have no problems in Googles eyes).

This means much less content, and in particular much less FREE content, and then only the stuff that agrees with Amazon's strict policies.

I submitted my apps to Amazon, but they got rejected because they had a "my other apps" link in the app that queried for my other apps on the Google Marketplace, and frankly I couldn't be arsed to make a custom version of my apps just for Amazon and their lock-down marketplace...

[David Harper 1]

Just which apps are these, then?

Could it be that the Kindle app is the one that's being monitored by Flurry's spyware, and this is skewing the figures?

Just curious.

[JDX]

If KindleTab doesn't have the proper Android market (AFAIK) does this mean the figures are only picking up hacked tablets? I assume not, what did I miss?

[Euchrid]

@ JDX

Flurry made these estimates based on the belief that its products are in "tens of thousands of Android apps" and that "it tracks over 20% of all consumer sessions on more than 90% of all Android devices each day" - http://blog.flurry.com/bid/81151/Amazon-Lights-the-Android-World-on-Fire

The above link is worth a quick read - it also contrasts the Android App Store with Amazon's.

[morbid]

Did the Nook not sell very well? I thought it would have at least made it out of that "other" group.

[Richard Lloyd]

Kindle Fire - vapourware in the UK

It's very puzzling that Amazon haven't even bothered to set either a UK price or UK release date for Kindle Fire yet. If it sold for 127 quid in the UK ($199 after currency conversion), it would sell like hot cakes here too, but I'm afraid it won't. The likely price is 199 quid and that would be a bit steep for a 7" tablet, IMHO (though a good price for a 10" one).

I think the first thing I'd do with a Kindle Fire would be put CyanogenMod 9 on it to get the full Android 4 experience on it - why you'd want to crippled by Amazon's UI/market is anyone's guess. Sadly, at its likely 199 quid price, I'll be sticking with my HP TouchPad (116 quid, 8.9" display, dual boots webOS and Android 4).

[Anonymous Coward]

Walled gardens ... we were doing *so* well...

At the point where the web is really opening up to all devices, to a set of standards everyone seems to be paying attention to...

... what do we see happening?

Walled gardens.

It's the Apple business model which has bought us here, the fantastic success they've had with the iPod, the iPhone and now the iPad has other companies clamouring for a slice of the pie.

The Kindle Fire is simply a device to consume on - a micro payment device.

As is the iPod, the iPhone & the iPad.

The idea of data being platform independent has turned on it's head once again.

And the idea of the consumer buying all the content they've already bought on every other platform...

Cynical? Yep, big time.

Razor blade holders, razor blades - that's the name of the game.

But hey, that's fine - millions are happy with that model, so be it.

For me, I'd get a kindle if it was successfully rooted and replaced with stock standard android.

[JDX]

Do you think there's a market...

for someone to buy Fires, root them, and re-sell with a small markup? Similar to how you (used to?) get people with "SIM unlocking" stands at the market?