Google’s Android device makers love Android because it is open source. What they don’t like is that they have to pay Google to use parts of it and that so much of it is locked down. Amazon’s Kindle Fire showed them another way it and they want to release their own. Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet runs on Android 2.3, gingerbread but Amazon has done such a great job with modding it; one can barely resembles Android. Android’s source code is readily available, companies can do what they want with it. The only thing keeping them tied to Google has been, up to now, the desire to be part of the official lineup of Android Play and other Google apps.
However Amazon went their own way with a store and it worked. More and more companies plan to do the same thing. Sony already does something similar with Vita. This trend is great news for fans of the Android platform. This is not a good thing for Google who will continue to lose what little control they have over it.
It is yet to be seen can Amazon work with major carriers to offer a phone. There could and most likely will be a conflict of interest since Amazon currently sells phones. What is to stop them from marketing just their own phone and leaving everyone else on the shelf. That said it would be a PR nightmare if they did. I for one I’m looking forward to some competition to the Apple dominance and Android mediocreness.