Amazon To Launch 'Amazon Appstore For Android'

angry tapir writes "Amazon is preparing to open an Android app store to compete with Google's Android Market, and has launched a beta portal where developers can submit applications for Android-based smartphones. The applications will be sold on the Amazon Appstore for Android, which the company expects to launch later this year. At launch, the Appstore will be available for customers in the US, and it will be compatible with Android 1.6 and higher. Users will be able to shop for applications from their PCs, which isn't possible with the existing version of Android Market, or from their smartphones, and pay with their existing Amazon account."

Re:But why?

[larry bagina]

Sell? Not exactly. Google doesn't make money selling/licensing an OS or selling apps, they make money selling ads. They prefer you get a free (as in ad-supported) app than a paid one. If you (as a developer or user) like that model, cool. But if not, too bad because the google app store only supports paid apps in 32 countries (that number was 14 until just a couple months ago).

Re:More interesting, mimics Apple app store

[ducomputergeek]

My big question is what is the payout rules? Do they deposit the money in my checking account automatically? Or do you have to have a minimum sales amount before they'll cut a check?

I write mobile apps as a hobby. I make enough from the apps that it pays for itself, but not enough to quit the day job. I've been releasing mobile apps for both Android and iOS for a little over a year now.
I spent the start of this week actually looking at the sales data to get ready for taxes this year and I've come to the conclusion that Android users don't buy apps. iOS users do.

I do the classic "Lite" version of my apps that are free with ads and then offer a "Full" version for either $0.99 or $1.99 with no ads and usually has a few extra features that didn't make the cut into the lite version.

The lite version of my flagship app has about 15k iOS downloads and 22k from Google Marketplace.

I've sold a little over 900 of the "full" versions of the app for iOS but only about 350 for Droid phones @ $1.99 in both marketplaces.

The problem is, I spend probably 2.5x the time on the Android platform vs. iOS. working out issues between devices/OS versions. Well if you add having to submit to multiple app stores, each with their own submission rules and payout rules, and Android becomes even less and less attractive for people like me.

Re:But why?

[dragonhunter21]

But now there's competition. That's the silver lining I see here.

Of course, that doesn't solidify anything- the whole plan could fall apart out of the starting gate, but it could be nice.

Re:I'm a developer, and I won't support this

[mlts]

Bingo. One of the reasons I love Android and Google's Marketplace is that some apps have a VERY fast development cycle. I have seen features requested for an app in the feedback at 1:30 PM, and an update with that feature in the app by the developer at 4:30 PM the same day. Same with bugs, someone mentions them, they get stomped by fast reacting developers in hours.

Contrast this to the iOS model where an app developer had an issue with some saved game files, uploaded an update so people can actually save their work, and it took almost 1-2 weeks for the update to appear on iTunes. This was before iTunes Connect was down for the holidays [1].

This isn't to say Amazon's model is bad. I just fear that instead of being able to choose between Google versus Amazon that the choice will be foisted upon us by whomever gives the cellular carriers a sweeter deal. Both stores have advantages and shortcomings, and having a choice is important. However, if I end up having to choose between Amazon's model versus Google's, I'd choose Google's just because it is a more open way of publishing and allows developers to get stuff fixed and added very quickly.

[1]: It is understandable Apple turned off iTunes Connect during the Christmas/New Years rush.