Just a day ahead of announcing its very first smartphone, Amazon decided to share some Appstore numbers with the world. The online retailer turned infrastructure provider now houses 240,000 apps, which may seem impressive, but is much behind billion Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store app count. Then again, Amazon was never really about quantity as it tried to curate the content users can download from its store. The company also noted that its Appstore is now available in 200 countries.
The problem, however, is that some apps don’t get the same, fast update treatment in Amazon’s Appstore. For one thing, I purchased SwiftKey from Amazon and I still wait to receive the update to version 5.0. Not sure why that’s the case, but that definitely plays down the end user experience.
According to Amazon, developers are making a decent living by selling their apps and games to Kindle Fire users.
“Developers tell us that they experience improved reach, greater monetization, and, oftentimes, higher revenue when they have their apps and games in the Amazon Appstore,” said Mike George, VP of Amazon Appstore and Games. “But this is just the beginning – we’re building more services and capabilities for developers and more Android-based APIs based on their feedback. Most Android apps just work on Kindle Fire, and with an Appstore made for Android devices, Amazon’s Appstore can help developers distribute their apps on Android devices all over the world. It’s a great time for developers to bring their apps to the Amazon Appstore.”