Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Amazon adds in-app purchases to its app store
Like it or not, the freemium model is here to stay. Last year, Google started allowing in-app purchases for applications on the Play Store, allowing developers to put out a bare-bones application for free and charge customers for additional content from within the app itself. This move only applied to the Play Store, and not third-party application markets.
The Amazon App Store is certainly the largest of the third-party app stores and today they have announced that they too have started allowing in-app purchases on applications hosted on their store. Amazon's integration brings with it one of the primary advantage Amazon brings to the table: one-click purchasing.
As an Amazon Prime member, I've come to trust and depend on Amazon's payment process, a process which makes it stupid easy for me to throw more and more money at Amazon every day. Now developers of Android applications will have the option to provide this same type of experience to their customers. Several developers are already on board, most notably ZeptoLab, Disney, Glu, Gameloft, Conde Nast, Dow Jones, and the New York Post.
Developers interested in integrating in-app purchasing to their Amazon App Store application can check out Amazon's Youtube channel for more info. And all you Android users out there, what do you think about the move toward in-app purchases and "freemium" application models? Sound off in the comments.
Show Press Release
Amazon Appstore Announces In-App Purchasing Service for Kindle Fire and Other Android Devices
Developers can now offer digital content and subscriptions within apps and games using Amazon's
1-Click purchasing
SEATTLE – April 10, 2012 – (NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com, Inc. today announced an In-App Purchasing (IAP) service, making it easy for Amazon Appstore developers to offer digital content and subscriptions for purchase within apps and games that are available on millions of Kindle Fires and other Android devices.
Amazon Appstore's In-App Purchasing service is simple for developers to integrate and helps monetize their apps and games, while offering customers a seamless and secure 1-Click purchasing experience.
