Amazon Appstore Drives Monetization for Developers

SEATTLE--()--(NASDAQ: AMZN) – Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that since Kindle Fire was introduced less than a year ago, customers have downloaded hundreds of millions of apps and games from the Amazon Appstore, and the number of developers building apps for Amazon Appstore continues to grow quickly. This growth is being driven by strong monetization from Amazon’s large customer base and industry-leading e-commerce features like 1-Click purchasing and In-App Purchasing (IAP). This accelerating developer growth is also attributable to Amazon continuing to release services that make life easier for developers building mobile apps and games.

“Amazon’s platform is a complete end-to-end solution for developers wanting to build, market and monetize their apps and games,” said Paul Ryder, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. “Developers can build their apps and games using Amazon Web Services’ industry-leading infrastructure platform. For important audience engagement features like leaderboards, achievements, and syncing game state between devices, developers can use Amazon’s new GameCircle services. To gain exposure to tens of millions of customers, developers can list their apps in the Amazon Appstore and take advantage of awareness-building programs like Free App of the Day. And, to monetize their apps and games, customers can use Amazon’s industry-leading e-commerce and payment capabilities like In-App Purchasing and Subscriptions.”

More and more, developers are finding that In-App Purchasing is instrumental in monetizing their apps, more so than just charging for access to the app itself. In fact, the average In-App Purchasing transaction generates more than twice the revenue of the average paid app transaction. And, developers are finding that Amazon Appstore’s In-App Purchasing capability has significant advantages relative to others.

“We are big fans of Amazon Appstore and have seen tremendous growth in our business since we started releasing our apps on the Amazon platform,” said Suli Ali, CEO of TinyCo. “We have been extremely successful with Amazon’s In-App Purchasing. It was easy to implement, and we have generated significantly more revenue per customer than with any other platform. Since we have had such success with Amazon, when GameCircle was introduced, it was a no-brainer, we added it to our apps right away.”

“We aim to delight women with our engaging 3D lifestyle games, and Kindle Fire is a perfect match for our debut app Style Me Girl. Because of Amazon’s IAP solution, our apps monetize 50% better than they do on other platforms we’re on, in turn, helping us scale our business quickly,” said Simon Newstead, CEO & Co-Founder of Frenzoo.

“Storm8 was one of the first game developers on the Kindle Fire, and we’ve had a consistently great experience,” said Perry Tam, CEO & Co-Founder at Storm8. “The development process couldn’t be easier, and Amazon’s team is quick to respond if we have any questions. We’re especially happy with the results we’re seeing from Amazon’s In-App Purchasing. Storm8 will definitely bring more games to the Kindle Fire in the near future.”

“Working with Amazon has been fantastic,” said Michael Dawson, Head of Strategy and Business Development at Pocket Gems. “Fans have embraced our games in the Amazon Appstore and played more than 16 million sessions to date. Commercially, our games have been extremely successful thanks in part to Amazon’s well-integrated In-App Purchasing which has helped us generate additional revenue.”

“At Glu we’ve always been an early adopter of Amazon services for both building and selling our mobile games. For example, Frontline Commando was one of the first games on the Amazon Appstore to offer IAP and subscriptions. This game also leverages Amazon’s S3 and Sync services,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chief Executive Officer of Glu Mobile. “Amazon offers us exposure to its large customer base and we will continue to use the Amazon platform in our efforts to grow our business.”

The Amazon Appstore is adding popular games and apps every day, with hundreds of best-selling apps added since the Kindle Fire launch. Recently added bestsellers include Hulu Plus, HBO GO, iHeartRadio, Disney’s Where’s My Water? and Where’s My Perry?, WebMD, USA Today, BBC News, ABC News, Spotify, Songza, Bejeweled 2 and more.

“We recently launched the ABC News App for Kindle Fire and were thrilled to see tens of thousands of downloads in just under a month,” said Doug Vance, VP of Product Strategy for ABC News. “Amazon provides visibility to a very large customer base which is great for our app and our growing ABC News audience.”

“The growth and success of Kindle Fire made it an obvious choice for Spotify to deliver an app that would be seamlessly integrated into the overall Kindle Fire experience,” said Michael Abbattista, Business Development, Spotify. “Fans can now download the app for Kindle Fire and immediately start listening to music on Spotify’s free mobile radio feature – the response has been incredibly positive.”

About Amazon Appstore for Android

The Amazon Appstore for Android is where customers can find, discover and buy thousands of apps using Amazon’s convenient and trusted shopping features, including personalized recommendations, customer reviews and bestseller lists. Customers can access the store directly on Kindle Fire, from any computer, or on an Android phone or tablet. Amazon Appstore has a broad selection of paid and free apps and games, including established bestsellers and new apps from top-tier brands.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Contacts

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

Contacts

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr