Amazon is phasing out Fire Tablets because they weren’t ‘giving customers what they were asking for’

AI Summary

Amazon plans to phase out its Fire tablet brand and replace it with Alexa Tablets, according to consumer electronics chief Panos Panay. The new devices will run Android with access to the Google Play Store, addressing limitations of Fire OS and the lack of official Google apps on Fire tablets.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Amazon's head of consumer electronics, Panos Panay, confirmed the company would phase out the Fire brand in favor of Alexa Tablets. The new lineup runs proper Android, instead of the custom Fire OS, and has full access to the Play Store, which wasn't available on Fire tablets. To make matters worse, Gmail, Google Calendar, YouTube, Google Drive, and other services were only available via the browser on Fire tablets; the official Google apps were not available in the Amazon Appstore. The Fire tablet line "wasn't giving customers what they were asking for," Panay told Bloomberg, which appears to be access to … Read the full story at The Verge.