back to article Amazon Android App Store to invade Europe

Amazon will bring its Android App Store to Europe, tempting more developers to jump on board with a new revenue split, an easier submission process and a pledge to waive annual fees. The Amazon Android App Store will expand its reach to the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, with more countries planned following an initial …

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  1. Pete the not so great
    Meh

    <Monty Python>

    Ayy tell them ah alrady gat waaan

    1. BorkedAgain
      Happy

      Re: <Monty Python>

      Can we see it?

      1. Pete the not so great
        Happy

        Of course not. You're English types.

  2. Wize

    70% goes to the developer

    What's the developer making on the normal Android market place?

    1. ukgnome
      Coat

      What's the developer making on the normal Android market place?

      mainly apps and some freemium games

      *the one with the 1908 joke book in the pocket

    2. DrXym

      Re: 70% goes to the developer

      "What's the developer making on the normal Android market place?"

      70% after tax. Furthermore it's 70% of the price the developer sets. So you charge a quid, 58p goes to you, 25p to Google and the other 17p to the taxman.

      Amazon's terms mean they can discount your app to any amount they like and give you anywhere between 70% of the sale price or 20% of the list price, whichever is greater. It means your £1 app might sell for 50p and you only see half the profits. You can't even jack up the list price to compensate for this.

      On top of that Amazon charge $100 anually to be their developer program vs the $25 lifetime registration for Google marketplace.

      So it's really not a good deal unless you know for certain you'll sell thousands of apps to cover the costs.

      1. Wize

        Re: 70% goes to the developer

        Thanks, sounds like the smart option is to stay within the garden walls for now.

        I'd better get my finger out and actually write something useful.

  3. eSeM
    Happy

    Cool, Kindle Fires for the UK.

    :-)

    1. DrXym

      Around the same week as Google release a tablet. Amazon had better knock the price down.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    70% of list price to the developer

    Interesting to see Amazon aligning with Apple on this, but why do they have a completely opposite view when it comes to e-books? Are e-books that different from apps? Especially since you can wrap an e-book inside an app.

    So now I could publish an e-book via Amazon Kindle and get 70% of whatever Amazon ends up pricing the book at - minus delivery fees on top and subject to a small selection of territories - or publish my e-book as an app and get 70% of what *I* choose to price the book, no delivery fees and valid in all territories.

    Seems awfully arbitrary, but hey I know which one I'd choose.

    1. deshepherd

      Re: 70% of list price to the developer

      But I thought one of the complaints of the Amazon app store was that developers found that their app had been chosed for a special "75% off" offer and as a result got 30% of 25% of what they'd priced the app at. So I think you'd still be at risk of Amazon deciding to discount you book-in-an-app idea.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 70% of list price to the developer

        Indeed that was a common complaint and probably why it's changing now to be 70% of list price (as set by the developer), as the article says.

        So, with the announced change, the book-as-app idea will offer authors a better deal.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Perhaps someone can explain how they get loaded.

    Do you have to allow non-marketplace installs, which also opens you up to all sorts of other malware?

    if so, thats rather irresponsible of Amazon.

    I also heard the apps are usually very old versions on Amazon, where the developers can't be bothered to maintain them, because it's a dying store.

    1. DrXym

      Re: Perhaps someone can explain how they get loaded.

      You visit some Amazon site in your web browser and install their app store's apk. After that it's a case of running their appstore which is presumably curated in some manner.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Perhaps someone can explain how they get loaded.

        That's how you DOWNLOAD the app. Not how you INSTALL it.

        Android prevents installation from non Android Marketplace (Play Store) sources, as a malware prevention mechanism. If Amazon are expecting you to disable this, so they can load stuff on your device from their source, then you are opening your device upto a whole load of hurt.

        It seems you do.

        http://www.howtogeek.com/106175/the-top-5-alternatives-to-the-android-market/

        That's REALLY irresponsible of Amazon, and someone should be fighting against this....

    2. M Gale

      Re: Perhaps someone can explain how they get loaded.

      Unless Amazon can somehow get hold of the device or manufacturer key, then yes, it means unchecking the Marketplace Only box.

      I don't see how else it would be done on a non-Fire tablet? Are you going to level the same accusations of irresponsibility at every other app store?

  6. Nev
    Thumb Down

    Meh.

    Wake me up when they're offering Fires coupled with all-you-can-eat TV show steaming from a Prime account....

  7. toadwarrior
    Trollface

    No thanks, if I want to buy malware I'll stick with the google app store.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ahh the irony.

      Malware gets onto Android because people have disabled the "only allow marketplace apps" and opted for non-Google sources like Amazon, which is the first step to getting Malware on your system...

      Would you REALLY trust a PC app-store that asked you to switch off your firewall? Nope.... How is Amazon's offering any different?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Ahh the irony.

        No, Google Market arg Play has plenty of malware.

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