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Millennial Media, known more for their sweeping reports of the mobile ad market, has dropped an interesting note via their twitter account. According the the ad company, the Amazon Appstore for Android will launching this month. Their tweet included a link to a blog post geared towards developers interested in the new app storefront.
We await a formal announcement from Amazon, and suspect Google will have little to say about the move other than some boilerplate copy about the openness of Android. It will be interesting to see where the Amazon Appstore fits into the Android equation, nonetheless.
[via Gizmodo]
Interesting. If they have a reasonable return period (more than 15 minutes) I would probably buy all my paid apps from there that were offered in both markets.
If they allow me to keep paid apps tied to my Amazon account instead of Google accounts (which you can’t change your gmail.com address with or transfer apps between) then I will definitely use this for app purchases.
Android needs this even though google probably doesn’t want it. The market has a bad reputation for buggy insecure apps, copycats and tons of wallpapers masquerading as apps.
I’m going to research the return policy but even if it is the same as google, it is still better because the apps will be vetted, mandatory screenshots and there’s Amazon’s review system (stupid reviews voted down, discussions, etc) so that you have a better idea of what you’re getting before you get it.
I still think that this is a bad idea for Android.
I think it will definitely add to the debate on the market’s cut of a paid app. My biggest question is how will you install the apps? Will their market app be in the Google app store? Will the app come standard on some phones? Will Amazon reach out to the devices that do not have the Google market and gain that way? They have the supply channel to break away from the mobile operators, if they will.
Finally, does everyone in my house (and only in my house, I do not consider myself a pirate) with an Android phone really need my Gmail account to play Jet Car Stunts?
Daniel: so many people use amazon so all they have to do is mention they have an app store the next time they check out the site. The problem with other alternative markets (slideme, etc) is that nobody knows who they are.