Amazon is apparently about to launch their own AppStore for Android. Don’t just take my word – see what MG Siegler has to say about it. He even has some pricing details on Amazon’s Android AppStore.
Amazon – riding the Android wave
Simon Judge has some interesting insights of his own about this:
“What does this mean for Google? […] if you look at this from a network operator viewpoint, the Amazon model prevents carrier billing and carrier share of app revenue. Hence, a successful Amazon store would be less of an incentive for operators to sell Android handsets.”
Not sure I agree here, but there are a few things I want to contribute:
- It shows how open Android is. The OESF are standardizing application stores, and then comes Amazon, Verizon and a few others and build stores of their own. Maybe it will nudge Google into improving their simplistic AppStore experience into something tolerable or even great.
- If Amazon acts wisely here, they can become the AppStore for all non-phones out there: set-top boxes, tablets, media phones, car systems – you name it. It can be a boon for Amazon and a huge enabler for CE vendors.
- Once you think of it, this is a smart move from Amazon. They already sell a gazillion of things, but they are “residing” in eReader devices and Kindle applications. This puts them in the action of software applications, an emerging market with too much money.
- Amazon knows too much about me already – and I love it. This is how I read so many good science fiction books – I just follow their recommendations. I’ll probably be doing the same for my apps.
- Google finally opened up their market to additional countries (including Israel), but for me buying through my Amazon account is going to be way better. Others might feel the same.
- This may bring the notion of app stores to a whole new audience, not just those app downloading geeks and game savvy kids. If Apple managed to do something for the software industry is get people to pay for good software. It’s important to make this available for larger audiences.
Me? I can’t wait for them to open shop, so I can start downloading apps to my heart’s content.
