Amazon will introduce a virtual currency system that its...
Amazon will introduce a virtual currency system that its customers can use to buy apps, games and in-app items on the Kindle Fire, it said Tuesday. Amazon Coins will launch in the U.S. in May and is “another new way…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
for app and game developers to make money” on the tablet that will “drive traffic” and downloads, it said. At launch, Amazon will give customers “tens of millions of dollars’ worth of free Amazon Coins to spend” on apps on the Kindle Fire via the online Amazon Appstore, it said. Amazon will also “make it quick and easy” for consumers to buy additional Amazon Coins using their Amazon accounts, it said. Amazon Appstore developers will “earn their standard 70 percent revenue share when customers make purchases” using the new virtual currency, it said. Developers that already have apps and games at the Appstore in the U.S. won’t need to do anything with their apps to capitalize on the new opportunity, but developers not yet on the Appstore need to submit their apps soon because “only apps submitted and approved by April 25 will be ready when Kindle Fire customers have Amazon Coins to spend” at launch, it said. “Developers continue to report higher conversion rates on Amazon compared to other platforms,” Paul Ryder, Amazon vice president-apps and games, said in a news release (http://xrl.us/boezm3). “Average revenue per user on Amazon is higher” than on other Android-based platforms, said Keith Shepherd, CEO at developer Imangi Studios.