New York — With millions of applications flying off of the virtual shelves every day, Amazon.com on Wednesday officially disclosed that it has launched its own Appstore Developer Portal, aimed at enabling Android developers to submit their apps for the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android that will open later this year. The date of this launch is still undetermined.
Amazon is a prominent etailer and has a long track record in e-commerce, with tens of millions of customers already signed up, strong promotional abilities to recommend relevant products, and a successful expansion into electronic books through its Kindle program. Furthermore, the move brings Amazon into direct competition with Google’s own existing app store — but with what Amazon hopes will prove to be two important distinctions: recommendations and a very different pricing strategy: Amazon will set the price tag customers see.
“We have spent years developing an e-commerce platform that helps customers find products that are right for them from a massive selection,” said Aaron Rubenson, Amazon’s category leader for mobile services, in an interview. “We are excited to bring those capabilities to mobile apps.”
Many app developers complain it is pretty difficult to get noticed in Google’s app marketplace, which is largely built around search and lists of featured apps and top downloads. Amazon said it will employ its “proven marketing and merchandising methodology” to help sell the apps; details are sparse, but Amazon’s retail business uses personalized data about past purchase and browsing habits to suggest new purchases.
“The sheer number of apps available today makes it very difficult for customers to find high-quality, relevant products — and developers simply struggle to get their apps noticed,” Amazon said. “Amazon’s innovative marketing and merchandising concepts are designed to help customers find and discover relevant products from our vast selection, and we are excited to apply those capabilities to the apps market segment.”
“Our customers also have a strong interest in mobile, and across the company we are working hard to make our great products and services available on mobile devices,” the team adds. “We continue to innovate the mobile shopping experience with the Amazon Shopping app, Amazon Price Check and the recently launched Windowshop for the iPad. We have numerous Kindle apps, and customers can shop our MP3 store from their mobile devices. Our subsidiaries like IMDB and Audible also have robust mobile applications. An Appstore is a logical next step for Amazon in mobile.”
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Amazon is inviting Android app developers to sell software through its store. (Credit: Amazon)
Amazon intends for users to be able to purchase applications both from their PC and mobile device. Android 1.6 and higher are being targeted first, but they will cover other platforms in the future. Furthermore, the company said they would not be covering two platforms that are iOS and Windows Phone 7. Those two are locked into Apple’s and Microsoft’s stores respectively. That still leaves room for Blackberry, WebOS and Symbian, though the longevity of the latter two are in question.
For developers might be wondering why they should submit to Amazon’s store, the company says that it has a strong interest in developing its mobile segment and that it is particularly interested in developing apps for Google’s operating system. A number of apps are already offered from Amazon itself, including a shopping app, Amazon Price Check, and Windowshop for iPad. Kindle, its e-reader software, is also available across multiple platforms, including iOS, BlackBerry, Android, and most recently Windows Phone 7.
Besides, the company states that for the first time, developers will have access to tens of millions of active Amazon customers, as well as Amazon’s marketing and merchandising features, and the convenience for customers to use existing Amazon accounts for purchasing apps online or on their mobile devices. And, beyond recommendations on apps to purchase, also expect Amazon to curate its store, testing and taking out apps that do not perform as advertised or break their content restrictions.
“An Appstore is a logical next step for Amazon in mobile,” the company said.
It remains to be seen if results from Amazon’s appstore will turn up in Google search results, but if so, it simply means more visibility for Android apps.