Sideloading was basically the main reason people picked Fire Sticks over more locked-down options. Without it, it just becomes another closed streaming box, and a lot of the “power user” appeal disappears.
I can count among my friends and family some 50 Fire Sticks, and we're all happy with them, as they do what they say on the box.
We Tech folks (and some more than others) live in a bubble, but the other 99% of the users couldn't care less about this.
Because those folks don't move the needle on sales. They're buying one, maybe two firesticks and using them OOB. I'd bet a significant portion of sales go to people 'jailbreaking' them and buying in bulk.
Then this would be stupid. Obviously if the product stops doing what people want (jailbreaking, not sure what the scare quotes mean) sales will plummet.
That’s such a weirdly specific detail but also kinda fascinating. Imagine going to the Moon and the first thing you notice is “huh… smells like gunpowder.
I just had a filling replaced at the dentist yesterday and when he was grinding away at it to shape it, I would get a terrible whiff of something like gunpowder. It was quite disturbing.
But now I can just tell everyone my tooth is filled with moon dust.
