Amazon App Store confirmed via developer document
by Steven Mostyn - Oct 8 2010, 15:20
Android App Store coming soon? Image: Amazon.
An overview document dispatched from Amazon has today confirmed that the online retail titan is about to throw open the virtual doors of its very own App Store for Android devices – is there no quelling the related appeal of Google’s mobile operating system?
The document in question, which is meant for potential developers and was acquired by The Wall Street Journal, outlines that software creations looking to make the grade will first have to pass through an “App Packaging Tool” before they can be submitted.
This process will apparently “ensure that the apps will install properly on customers’ devices” while also enabling “the digital rights management (DRM) policies outlined in the developer agreement.” That being said, DRM inclusion will be totally dependant on whether or not developers choose to use it.
According to the WSJ report, which cites “people briefed on Amazon’s plans,” the retail heavyweight has outlined to prospective developers that an app cannot be sold cheaper via any other outlet.
The report also claims Android apps cannot be available elsewhere for more than two weeks before also arriving on the as-yet unnamed Amazon portal.
Google’s own Android Market presently offers smartphone users access to some 80,000 software apps, making it the second largest applications store after Apple’s App Store – which has around 250,000 apps catering specifically for Apple customers.
In terms of sales split, developers selling through Amazon will apparently receive 70 percent of the purchase price, with Amazon taking a 30 percent cut. That matches the split currently utilised by Google and Apple on their respective stores.
The new Android App Store has not yet been confirmed by Amazon, and therefore doesn’t have a launch date with which to tease smartphone owners. However, whispers suggest the rumoured release will be before the close of 2010.
Amazon has not yet issued any official comment regarding the story.
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