Amazon Appstore Coming To UK This Year

Amazon is bringing its Appstore to the UK, allowing owners of Android devices to download applications later this year.

The UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain will be the first outside the US to get access to the store, with further expansion promised in the near future.

The company has outlined details of how developers can sell their products internationally, giving them control over which markets they want to sell to and how much they want to charge in each country.

Fire to follow?

“We are thrilled at the success our developers have experienced on the Amazon platform in the last year,” said Jim Adkins, vice president of the Amazon Appstore. “Some developers have seen revenue double since the launch of in-spp purchasing.  We’re excited to open the door to even more opportunity by expanding app sales outside the US.”

“We see tremendous potential for current developers in our distribution program to grow with the international expansion. We also encourage new developers to join and participate in the platform’s growth.”

Information will be given on how to localise apps for international distribution and those already participating in the programme will have theirs made available automatically.

“We are delighted with the strong relationship that we’ve cultivated with the US Amazon Appstore since its launch, and Kindle Fire has been hugely successful for our titles,” said Peter Vesterbacka, CMO and Mighty Eagle of Rovio. “As a strong global brand with an international fan base, we are very excited to expand our offerings to Amazon’s customers worldwide.”

The Appstore competes with Google’s recently rebranded Google Play store on the Android operating system, where apps are said to be on average two and a half times more expensive than their iOS counterparts.

The Appstore has been exclusive to the US since its launch, although some users from other countries were able to gain access briefly last September. It is used to provide content to Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which is not currently available in the UK, but the imminent arrival of the Appstore could reignite speculation of a release this side of the pond.

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