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Google Had Better Watch Out – the Amazon Appstore is Going Global

Amazon-Appstore-for-AndroidAmazon announced today that they would soon be expanding their Android app store around the world.

Right now the Amazon Appstore is only available in the US, a handful of countries in Europe, and Japan, and the same goes for the Kindle Fire. But according to the press release Amazon will soon be selling Android apps in "nearly 200 countries" around the world, including India, South Africa, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and even Vatican City.

There’s no word on exactly when this will happen, but today Amazon invited app developers to start getting ready. When the expansion does happen, app developers will be able to profit from Amazon’s large customer base and e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing, In-App Purchasing, and GameCircle, Amazon’s gaming experience for Kindle Fire.

Speaking of which, there no indication on whether the Kindle Fire will be available for purchase in those countries, but I strongly suspect that Amazon is planning to make it available to the rest of the world at the same time as the expanding app store.

BTW, is anyone else wondering just how much Amazon padded the "nearly 200 countries" claim? I do wonder, but my guess is that Amazon isn’t stretching the truth all that much. If we look at where the Kindle Store is available we will likely have a good idea where the Amazon Appstore will be available.

According to the latest info, Amazon sells Kindle ebooks in 179 countries around the world. That info is slightly out of date (it doesn’t include China), but I would be willing to bet that the Amazon Appstore will be available in exactly the same countries.

ILLO_INTERNATIONAL-REACH-MAP_500px_CHINA_NoFlags[1]Update: Amazon is now saying that the Appstore will be available in 195 countries in a few months. Here is a map of the coverage:

When that happens the Amazon Appstore will have a larger potential customer base than iTunes or Google Play. The former sells apps in 150 plus countries, while the latter sells apps in nearly 140 countries.

I doubt Apple will care all that much but Google is probably unhappy today. The Amazon Appstore is a direct competitor to Google Play, and since Amazon doesn’t have picky hardware standards they have been taking away a significant part of the market that Google didn’t want to support. When Amazon goes global this problem will only get worse for Google.

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Comments


Cookie April 17, 2013 um 12:10 pm

What pisses me off is I have a dictionary app I purchased from Amazon´s app that requires me to be logged in to the Amazon.com app store. WTF is up with that?

Nate Hoffelder April 17, 2013 um 12:17 pm

That is Amazon’s DRM.


Akif April 17, 2013 um 4:13 pm

I wouldn’t say global if Türkiye isn’t included 🙂


Puzzled April 18, 2013 um 5:22 pm

What does 'nearly 200 countries' and 'available in 195 countries' mean?

That you can purchase from those countries? This is a no brainer, as you can purchase from pretty much anywhere on the globe wiht an internet connection.

That your credit card gets charged in your currency and locally (so you don’t get foreign transaction fees)? This would be good, as not even some companies are managing this in first world countries.

Nate Hoffelder April 18, 2013 um 5:37 pm

I’m not sure, but I would expect that for most of the countries the price will be in dollars and have fees attached.


Episode 144 – Play It Again Guru » Android Buffet Podcast April 22, 2013 um 11:25 pm

[…] Appstore going Global, will be launching in nearly 200 […]


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