European launch confirmed for the Amazon Appstore

by Mark Tyson on 21 June 2012, 11:42

Tags: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)

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Amazon has started taking apps submissions and recruiting app developers for the international version of the Amazon Appstore. The company is readying the store for launch this summer in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. In the US the Kindle Fire tablet is part of Amazon’s Appstore strategy and is the primary access point to the Appstore so it is expected a Kindle Fire tablet will be launched within Europe too.

The Amazon Appstore offers the convenience of Amazon shopping on the go and features one click buying a 30 minute “try before you buy” option not available within Google Play. The platform has proved very successful in the US. Amazon Appstore chief Jim Adkins said “We're excited to open the door to even more opportunity by expanding app sales outside the US. We see tremendous potential for current developers in our distribution programme to grow with the international expansion. We also encourage new developers to join and participate in the platform's growth.” He added that “Some developers have seen revenue double since the launch of In-App Purchasing.” Making purchases quick and easy is a great aid in parting customers from their cash, a strategy Facebook have started to copy in an announcement earlier in the week.

The Amazon Appstore App can be installed and used on Android devices in regions where the Appstore functions (only in the US right now). The Amazon Appstore has some nice features for end users such as a free app of the day.

Kindle Fire

Amazon subsidise the price of the Kindle Fire tablet in the US because users are expected to consume a lot of paid for products and services from the Amazon cloud. The strategy has been successful; the Kindle Fire is the best selling Android tablet in the US. However the current model of the Kindle Fire might not be the same as the model that will be marketed in Europe, if indeed any such device is launched by Amazon. The current Kindle Fire is based upon RIM’s Playbook tablet and runs a heavily modified fork of Android that integrates Amazon cloud services into the OS. There have been rumours of a new, more tailored for Amazon, tablet in the works and this could be what Europe gets when the Appstore is launched over here. If the tablet price and the spec are right Amazon should be able to repeat its US Appstore/Kindle success on this side of the pond.

HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Posted by cheesemp - Thu 21 Jun 2012 12:08
Its about time. I'm just hoping these rumours of a more tailored version of android aren't true. I'd like a fire mark 2 but not interested if I can't use it as an android device.
Posted by Tpyo - Thu 21 Jun 2012 13:39
…agreed Worst of all worlds would be a see stripped-down/functionality impaired (and called more-tailored) version of the #1, but releasing a straight Fire #1 in Europe would only confirm their treatment of the ROW as second class citizens - with the next version again likely to go to the US many months before it would be available over here.
While I probably wouldn't be hungering for the device, a more-tailored version (without restricting any functions available on the current model) would at least be different from the version they have kept US only thus far - i.e. no plans to release the fire #1 here and skipping on past it.
Posted by crossy - Thu 21 Jun 2012 14:39
Zero interest here in the Fire - what do we need with an “almost-Android” when there's plenty of good “proper” Android devices? Especially if the much-rumoured cheap Nexus tablet comes here. I'd rather pay a little extra (<£50) to get full Android, rather than Amazon's butchered version. And yes, I know there's xda-devs, and ROMs…

Amazon App Store here in the UK can't come soon enough - can't see why they need to “recruit app developers” surely the app and store contents that are already in the US-store could be released over here too (subject to developer approval of course) minus the stuff that's only of use in the US (like ZIP code lookup apps, etc).
Posted by tickleonthetum - Thu 21 Jun 2012 18:03
I don't think the Kindle Fire is worth the money. What you get for $199 (£127ish direct conversion but they'll probably charge £199 in the end) is very limited. 7.5“ display, only 8Gb of built in storage (of which only 6Gb is available for you use), one headphone jack and one micro-usb port! For £100 you can get a 16Gb Ice Cream Sandwich based Tablet with 16Gb storage PLUS 1Gb RAM, MicroSD slot, USB port AND HDMI! You can get a Galaxy Tab for just £209 (just £9 more). Or even the Onda tablet 9.7” screen, 16Gb, USB, MicroSD, HDMI, 3.5mm jack, 1024x768, ICS, camera, GPS, 1Gb DDR3 RAM, 1.5GHz CPU and only £158.99 on Amazon.co.uk!!!!

I think the days of specialist devices like the Kindles are numbered, and most people will eventually have a Tablet (be it Win8, Android or iOS) as they do everything in one device!
Posted by Defiant - Fri 22 Jun 2012 00:47
I have to say if I was to buy a tablet (unlikely now I have an Ainol Aurora 2 shipping) it would be purely to root it and stick ICS on it. Amazons OS stinks imo.