Demonstrating a continued willingness to stay in step with evolutions in video game sales, online retailer Amazon is launching its own app store for Android games, and now new details are emerging on just how it will work.
Like Apple with its iTunes Store, Amazon will curate titles in its app store before they're approved. Unlike both Apple and Google's own Android Market, however, Amazon will set the prices for the apps.
The most visible incentive for developers is Amazon's search feature and recommendations technology, which will presumably allow customers to browse apps on the site, as they would any other product.
According to
a report in TechCrunch, Amazon will take about a week after an app is submitted to verify it works well and is safe for listing on the store. Google's Android Market doesn't curate app listings beforehand, and addresses problem apps only once they're reported.
Mobile developers are thus far accustomed to being able to set their own prices either on Apple's App Store or the Android Market, and Amazon's pricing method will represent a change: Developers set a "list price" for their apps, but Amazon uses a number of market factors to determine the final price for the app.
Developers will get 70 percent of the revenues from their app sales in Amazon's store, the report says -- but Amazon says it will guarantee 20 percent of an app's list price in the event that it decides to offer the app at a steep discount or for free.
Although Amazon has freedom to offer discounts on an app's price or to give apps away, the company asserts that its goal is to offer developers the most revenue possible on any given app. It hasn't set a launch date for the new store, but a
new developer portal is currently available for interested parties.
