How Amazon Is Making a Sucker Out of Google

[rolf]

According to Google's own policy, any company can use Android for any purpose without even asking Google permission. This policy helps drive Android usage. Google has gained 55 percent market share for smartphone handsets worldwide. Google's don't-be-evil platform is doing very well on phones.

On tablets? Not so much.

In the tablet space, Apple's iPad dominates utterly. With iPad as the preferred brand, Android tablets that cost about the same as iPad have failed spectacularly.

Amazon’s new Kindle Fire is the first touch tablet with a killer feature: It costs only $199, far less than any other big-brand tablet.

Unfortunately for Google, this price will barely dent the iPad universe, but will suffocate the Android tablet market.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is cheap because it’s sold at a loss. more-->

Linux comes of age, gets more and more like Microsoft each day.

[viking60]

This article is based on a lot of wrong assumptions:

The Kindle Fire uses Google’s own free mobile operating system to kill the Android ecosystem and compete directly with Google for all the services Google hoped to promote with Android.

The author seems to think that Google is the owner of Android. Linux is not owned by Google so the very concept of OSS is misunderstood.
Google knows this and I doubt very much that they will be out competed by Amazon. Their search engine is vital.

I find it refreshing that Google has proven that it is possible to earn a load of money on Linux. I dislike that Microsoft is making money on it because they did not contribute like Google has done.

In general I do not think Amazon will be successful by only leaching; sooner or later they will need to adapt the code (and then Google can leach back).
Samsung Galaxy tab is also "talked down" almost as if this was written by somebodies marketing department.
Linux is free - it is hard for many to understand that it can be big business at the same time, if they are willing to work. Google has grasped that part well.
I am not sure about Amazon.
Dumping prices mostly turns out to be a stupid strategy. What's next - will it be free?
Both free hardware and free software! I don't mind as long as they don't invade privacy.

But I don't believe in it.

[rolf]

Ah, that seems like a more informed analysis.