Amazon doesn't approve of Kindle Fire rooting, pushes update to stop it
When developers began hacking at the original Nook Color, Barnes & Noble didn't do anything to stop it. If anything, they took ideas from those working on their reader and incorporated more tablet functionality into software updates and their next Nook device.
The Kindle Fire was similarly rooted a couple weeks ago and got users access to the full Android Market. Unfortunately, Amazon has not taken as kindly to the modding community as Barnes & Noble did. In fact, they released an software patch that uses the Fire's automatic update feature to install it . . . and blocks and unroots all Kindle Fire devices.
As usual, the dedicated developers at XDA quickly got around the fix, but the update will still cost you any custom keyboards and other tweaks you may have installed. However, with a little work you can get right back to using the Market on your rooted Fire.
Still, I find this to be a very frustrating development. The Fire's hardware has the potential to make it a great device, but many users won't want to use Amazon's custom software on it. I was hoping that the company would allow their device to enjoy a Nook Color-like success, but it looks like they will be working instead to prevent that from happening.
[EE Times]
