It's not just the lack of apps (but any Windows Phone user will tell you that it's a huge drag) but that the ROI of offering an Android app outside of Google Play isn't there.
If it weren't just Amazon's AOSP, but also (for instance) if Microsoft and Firefox also offered their own, and combined they took a respectable share of the Android install base AND their respective app stores could all be targeted by Android devs with a single deployment then we would have something.
I have a Fire Phone with the Amazon maps app. I find it extremely disappointing after coming from Google Maps. No bike routes and quite clumsy UI. And, unfortunately, even though I've sideloaded the Play Store and installed Google Maps, the text is mangled beyond legibility, so I get lost a lot more often now.
Funny, after early today having to enter "Hospital" then "Emergency Room" into maps while in down town Phoenix, I found the whole experience pretty disappointing... Google should really work on that kind of entry.
