There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in some corners of the Internet when Amazon releases its first streaming devices running a new in-house operating system called Vega OS. Why? Because the new Fire TV devices will not be based on Android. which means that new Fire TV devices will not support sideloading Android apps anymore.
There are millions of Amazon Fire Stick users who won’t even know what that means. But there is a reason some people began to use the term “Fire Stick” as a verb. Without getting all technical about it, it is because, since its launch, the Fire TV operating system could be easily altered in order to add apps that were not in the Amazon App Store. In some cases, this allowed users to get services like YouTube when Google and Amazon were feuding for a short time. But there is a substantial number of people who use apps to stream TV shows and movies without paying for them. An entire cottage industry has been built around modding/unlocking/jailbreaking Fire TV devices and it is about to dry up.
Amazon Fire Sticks are popular devices with the piracy community. For years there have been people who bought multiple Fire TV sticks in order to load other software onto and resell them. Now why did they use Amazon Fire Sticks instead of other devices that run Android? Because they are inexpensive and well-made. They are also available everywhere that sells electronics. A quick Google search found Firesticks for 34.99 while Google’s new TV Streamer normally costs $100.00. Though at the moment the Google TV Streamer is on sale for $79.00.
Does that mean that all Fire Sticks will stop supporting side loading?
No. The devices that were manufactured using Amazon’s original operating system will still be able to load Android apps. So everybody who has a Fire TV device at the moment from the sticks, to TVs with Fire TV OS built into Amazon’s Fire TV Cube will still be able to side load apps. But at some point in the future, Amazon will release a new line of Fire Sticks and other devices that use (Vega) the new totally different operating system. And those devices will only be able to use apps from Amazon’s app store. How will you be able to tell what kind of a Fire TV device you are buying? I don’t know. Amazon may make a point in advertising the new OS on the packaging, but they may not. They are not under any obligation to do so. We will keep our eyes peeled on that matter.
So in the end, if you have no idea what unlocking a Fire Stick is you have nothing to worry about. If you have always bought devices off the shelf and used them for what they are designed to do then you will notice no change.
