Amazon has announced the global expansion of its Appstore for Android devices, making it available in nearly 200 countries including India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and Vatican City.
The company
announced that developers can now submit their apps for distribution in these new markets, where Amazon will rollout its Appstore in the coming months. It added that registered developers who wanted international distribution will have their apps automatically made available for download, unless they designate otherwise.
This means that Amazon will compete directly with Google at a wider level. At this point in time, Amazon's Appstore is available only in select regions including UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan, in addition to US. Google offers apps and games on Android devices through its Play Store.
This international expansion is the latest in a series of Amazon Appstore for Android launches, which have included the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.
"Amazon's platform is a complete end-to-end solution for developers wanting to build, market and monetize their apps and games on Kindle Fire and Android devices," said Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. "Allowing developers to target distribution of their apps and games in even more international countries is yet another important milestone as we strive to serve consumers and developers globally. Many of our existing developers have localised their apps and games for international consumers, and we look forward to working with new developers that have been waiting to bring their apps to more Amazon customers across the globe."
Amazon's Appstore offers an additional channel for app developers to distribute and monetize their apps. It also offers e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing, APIs for In-App Purchasing (IAP) and A/B Testing, and GameCircle, Amazon's gaming experience for Kindle Fire. The company claims that GameCircle gives developers the ability to monetize better via in-app purchases. While Amazon's Appstore can be installed on all Android devices, it might be a sign that the company is looking to expand its Kindle Fire tablet devices to other markets.
Earlier, the company had appointed Redington India as
distributor for its Kindle devices in India. Coupled with the latest development, one can expect that Amazon may introduce its range of Kindle Fire tablets in India in the near future.