Comment
Tweet
Share
Share
Digg
It’s been many months in the making, but today Amazon have finally taken the wraps off their Appstore for Android sporting a modest 3,800 Apps, including an exclusive version of Angry Birds that will no doubt help drive uptake of the new platform.
Currently only available to US customers, the Appstore has already caught the attention of Apple, who have sued the online retail giant for copyright infringement over use of the term “App Store” – Amazon were clearly hoping truncating the term would avoid such troubles.
Amazon are hoping to offer an “iTunes for Android”, meaning that they are hoping their closed, curated store will attract a higher quality of App and therefore greater profitability that the vanilla Android Market, which has been plagued by piracy and poor paid-app performance since launch, as well as recently being shown up following the discovery of a number of malicious apps.
Amazon will most likely be hoping to offer their Appstore to low-end Android devices that come without Google’s blessings, and the GMail, Maps and Market access that entails. Currently the barrier to entry is fairly high – Google have banned competing app distribution platforms from the official Android Market, meaning potential users of the new Amazon store have to download and manually install the raw .apk file – an option not currently available to AT&T customers due to restrictions the carrier places on app installations.
The initial offering of apps is modest, but seemingly high quality. The biggest draw will be Angry Birds Rio, which is exclusive to the Amazon Appstore for an unspecified period – and free for the first 24 hours, after which it will cost $0.99. The other Angry Birds games are also available for the same price, presumably ad-free.
Amazon are offering in-browser try-before-you-buy functionality for their new store, meaning you can test drive apps before you purchase them.
Loading ...
12 Responses to “Amazon Android Appstore launches”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] Nook Apps, Nook Color, Nook Store, rumor Comment Tweet Share Share DiggLast week saw the launch of Amazon.com Inc.’s Android Appstore, a curated, iTunes-style take on Google Inc.’s official Android Market. Amazon.com is hoping [...]
[...] [...]
[...] Amazon’s Appstore already here, and now with the launch of the Cloud Player, does anybody really doubt the retail [...]
[...] you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Hot on the heels of the launch of fellow bookseller Amazon’s own Android Appstore, Barnes & Noble has today gone official with what has been rumoured for some time – an [...]
[...] how many app stores are floating around out there, though with Amazon’s new recover of their “Android Appstore” and rumours of a Barnes Noble Nook outlet on a setting too, we consider this puts a sum during [...]
[...] app stores are floating around out there, but with Amazon.com Inc.’s recent release of their Android Appstore and rumours of a Barnes & Noble Nook outlet on the horizon, we think this puts the total at [...]
[...] many app stores are floating around out there, though with Amazon.com Inc.’s new recover of their Android Appstore and rumours of a Barnes Noble Nook outlet on a horizon, we consider this puts a sum during [...]
[...] many heralded the attainment of Amazon’s Android Appstore as a boost to a Android ecosystem, and a feat for consumer choice, Apple congratulated Amazon in a [...]
[...] many heralded the attainment of Amazon’s Android Appstore as a boost to a Android ecosystem, and a feat for consumer choice, Apple congratulated Amazon in a [...]
[...] Microsoft, Nook App Store, trademark Comment Tweet Share Share DiggAlthough many heralded the arrival of Amazon.com Inc.’s Android Appstore as a boost to the Android ecosystem, and a victory for consumer choice, Apple Inc. congratulated [...]
[...] tired of all this lengthy litigation, Amazon dove right in in mid-March, launching its own Android Appstore. Although the online retailer had truncated “App Store” to “Appstore”, the [...]
[...] tired of all this lengthy litigation, Amazon dove right in in mid-March, launching its own Android Appstore. Although the online retailer had truncated “App Store” to “Appstore”, the change wasn’t [...]