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Follow UsNEW YORK, USA: Challenging the Android market of Google, Amazon.com on Tuesday opened its Amazon Appstore for Android. Amazon.com has introduced its store even though Apple has filed a law suit over the name.
The Appstore offers free and paid applications based on the open-source operating system.
The online retailer also said that the game Angry Birds Rio for Android is available for the first time exclusively through the Amazon AppStore.
Amazon is promoting the game, which is tied to News Corp's Twentieth Century Fox animated film RIO featuring Angry Birds characters, by letting people download it for free for a limited time.
The move sets up Amazon as an alternative way to buy apps on tablet devices and smartphones, challenging Apple's iTunes store.
Reacting to the launch, Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps said, “What is most interesting to contemplate is the effect Amazon's entry into this space will have on Google and its Android OS, the device software platform Amazon is initially targeting”.
“The Amazon Appstore for Android is not yet big on apps — only some 3,500 will be available at launch — but it nonetheless looks ready to offer worthwhile competition to Google's own Android market, both for consumers and potentially Android OEMs,” he added.
Amazon's buy-once-use-anywhere approach for Android devices is sure to find favour with users who have come to expect multi-screen access to their favourite applications and content via the Web, he observed.
“Personalized recommendations and other popular Amazon features, such as 1-Click payment options for Amazon account holders, will also help shake up the status quo, as will the new "test drive" facility,” noted Cripps.
However, according to him, more critical in the longer term will be Amazon's ability to attract major brands and media organizations to its application store — something Google has to date been conspicuously less successful in doing than Apple.
“This could prove decisive not only to Amazon's success in this space but could also be the key to Android's ability to compete on equal terms with Apple in the minds of consumers,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)