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This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.
Amazon is moving ahead with plans to replace Android with its custom-built Vega operating system on Fire TV devices: The new Linux-based system will launch on TV streaming hardware before the end of the year, according to a newly published job listing for a software development manager for the company’s Prime Video service.
“The Prime Video Fire TV organization is seeking an engineering leader that will help in building a Vega OS product that will delight customers worldwide,” the job listing states. “With the app launching in 2025, you will get to shape the future of this product as well as the culture of the team.”
Amazon changed the wording of the job listing to remove references to Vega after being contacted for this story, and declined to comment.
An official announcement could happen as early as next Tuesday, when Amazon is scheduled to unveil its fall devices lineup at a press event in New York, according to two sources with knowledge of the company’s plans.
Amazon has been using a forked version of Android for its Fire TV Sticks and smart TVs running Fire TV OS since launching the first Fire TV device in 2014. However, the company has been working on a transition away from Android for several years, as I was first to report two years ago.
Vega, the OS to replace Android, has been built in-house and is based on Linux. It’s designed to run across a wide variety of devices and relies on React Native as its application framework. This allows developers to build native apps with JavaScript, with the added benefit that these apps run across a variety of other TV operating systems as well.
Amazon has yet to officially acknowledge the existence of Vega OS, but the company has already launched three devices running the system: The latest versions of the Echo Show 5 and Echo Hub smart displays both run Vega, as does the Echo Spot smart clock. The company also has plans to bring Vega to some Fire tablets, Reuters reported last month.
There have been multiple Vega-related leaks over the years. In April, the company posted a job listing for a “Software Development Engineer, Vega OS” who was supposed to help to get Vega up and running on “a range of devices, including Multimodal, TV, and Automotive.”
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