A few days ago there were some reports online from users of the Kindle Fire that when you try use an Android Market link, the browser would redirect you to the Amazon App Store. I thought that was a very dangerous path Amazon was walking. Maybe I could live with some sort of App Store censorship, the way Apple promotes, but censoring the web, too, in their favor? That’s something even Apple hasn’t done.
Just imagine Apple redirecting websites and web apps that you’re trying to reach to their App Store. Imagine if Apple would’ve redirected Amazon’s web reader to the App Store. If you remember about 6 months ago, Amazon had a conflict with Apple over their Kindle app. Apple was planning on banning apps that weren’t using Apple’s payment system for books. Amazon couldn’t have used it, because it would’ve annihilated their whole profit per book.
Amazon should know better than anyone that censoring like that could lead to bad things. It seems they’ve learned their lesson for now and they are going to allow Android Market links in their browser. If you root your Kindle Fire, you can even install the Android Market automatically. It seems Google has made it so everyone can install the Android Market on their tablets now, even if the tablets themselves didn’t come with the Android Market installed.
The Kindle Fire is still a good a good tablet for the price, and if you want to get the full Android experience on it without any of Amazon’s restrictions you can search and find a good custom ROM for it, although it would probably be best to wait for a stable CyanogenMod 9 or any other Android 4.0 ROM.