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Amazon touts Appstore credits with Android device purchase

April 25, 2011 — 8:37am ET | By Jason Ankeny

Amazon.com continues to flesh out its Appstore for Android market strategy, introducing a new promotion offering consumers $25 in application credits with the purchase of selected Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) smartphones and tablets. The weeklong promotion, which runs through 11:59 pm PST on May 1, includes more than a dozen devices offered via the AmazonWireless webstore, including the HTC ThunderBolt 4G, the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab--upon purchase, consumers will be sent a promotional code for $25 in Amazon Appstore credit, valid through Dec. 31. The offer is limited to consumers with U.S. billing addresses.

Amazon Appstore for Android went live in late March with about 3,800 applications, a number that has roughly doubled over the last month. Amazon promises a series of automated marketing features extending its signature product recommendation engine to mobile software merchandising, as well as a Bestsellers section to further improve consumer discovery. Amazon tests all apps before introducing them in the store, guaranteeing a positive user experience and protecting consumers from malware and other potentially harmful situations.

Earlier this month, the International Game Developers Association issued an advisory that identifies "significant concerns" about Amazon Appstore for Android's current distribution terms and warns the digital retail giant "has little incentive not to use a developer's content as a weapon with which to capture marketshare from competing app stores." In a lengthy blog post, the IGDA's board of directors takes issue with Amazon Appstore for Android's "unusual" terms, which grant the retailer the right to control game prices and to award developers the greater of 70 percent of the purchase price or 20 percent of the list price.

"We are not aware of any other retailer having a formal policy of paying a supplier just 20 percent of the supplier's minimum list price without the supplier's permission," the IGDA states. "Furthermore, Amazon dictates that developers cannot set their list price above the lowest list price 'available or previously available on any Similar Service.' In other words, if you want to sell your content anywhere else, you cannot prevent Amazon from slashing the price of your game by setting a high list price. And if you ever conduct even a temporary price promotion in another market, you must permanently lower your list price in Amazon's market."

For more:
- visit the AmazonWireless store