

Amazon’s Android App Store Launches: Test Drive Apps Directly From Your Browser - amitt
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/22/amazon-android-app-store-3

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jrockway
Man, look at all those one-star reviews for Angry Brids. "My device doesn't
have enough space for this app!" "Amazon won't refund my money for some book I
bought!" "AT&T doesn't allow side-loading!"

How does any of this relate to the actual app? Someone should be reading these
reviews and deleting them, because developers don't want reviews that have
nothing to do with ther app making their 5-star app a 3-star app.

Remind me to never give anyone anything for free. They will just whine about
it. Better to charge them $10,000 for the app, then charge them for a
$500/hour consultant to work around the bugs. They'll whine about it, but then
I would be able to afford enough alcohol to not care.

(And no, I have no Android apps. But I just can't get excited about writing
one when I see how dumb the average user is.)

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aaw
The Android Market has a similar problem. There is such a large proportion of
reviews that are complaints about failed downloads, scare tactics from
competitors ("This app installs malware!"), and feature requests ("3 stars.
I'll give you four stars once you implement feature X") that it makes me
wonder if people with close to 5-star ratings are just buying ratings from
farms of people somehow.

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ekidd
I'm having trouble parsing this portion of Amazon's developer agreement:

 _3.a. Delivery Commitment for Apps. You will deliver electronically to us
(and continue to make available during the Term all versions of all software
applications, games or other digital products (including any special or
collector’s editions) (i) that are designed for the Platform, (ii) for which
you have the rights required under this Agreement, and (iii) that are the same
versions and editions (except as otherwise provided in this Agreement) that
you or your affiliates make available directly or indirectly to any Similar
Service._

Does this mean that if I distribute one of my applications through the
Appstore, I'm legally required to distribute _all_ of my applications that
way?

If so, no thanks. I'm perfectly happy to distribute one app through Amazon's
store as an experiment, but there's no way I'm going to sign an open-ended
agreement to distribute everything at prices set by Amazon.

If they want every app I write, they would need to earn that through good
sales and a lack of shenanigans.

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rwl
> Does this mean that if I distribute one of my applications through the
> Appstore, I'm legally required to distribute all of my applications that
> way?

That's not (quite) what it looks like to me: I think clause (iii) is just
saying that you can't list an app on a competing service unless you list the
same version on Amazon's app store. Effectively, it seems they get to sell any
app that you want to sell on another app store -- but they're not asserting
rights over all future Android apps you might write.

(This raises a question I don't know the answer to: is it possible to
distribute Android applications without an app store, in the style of
"download this bundle from our site and transfer it to your phone"? Or do the
non-developer versions of Android out there require that apps be signed by a
central authority before they'll execute them?)

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riledhel
people can download and install .apk packages from wherever they want.

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Derbasti
If this takes off, it will be HUGE for Android. Everyone will be able to test
drive Android apps! If I was going to buy a new smart phone and I had the
choice between buying an iPhone on iFaith alone as compared to actually
checking out real Android apps before buying the phone, I would probably go
for Android simply because I know what I am getting into!

This actually makes me want to try Android (I am an iPhone user)! But I don't
live in the States, so… whatever, at least I can fire up a VPN and give those
apps a go.

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jokermatt999
Come to the dark side. We have better notifications, customization, and
sideloading of apps. :-)

Also, (mostly important if you're not on a Mac) you don't have to use iTunes!

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Derbasti
Not just yet, the force is still strong with me. But with this latest
announcement of Amazon, a great disturbance of the force could be felt :-)

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Roritharr
It seems the App Store is disabled for european (or german atleast) customers.

Sometimes i wish we were back in 1998 where the Internet was the same
everywhere. :(

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pieter
The store is down for everyone right now, so if it just redirects to the
homepage you should try again later..

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pieter
It's back up now:

    
    
         • Amazon Appstore is only available to customers located in the United States
    

So I guess you're right :(

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chupy
I'm from Belgium but I even put a one-click address in the US, and the apps
can't be downloaded (even free ones).

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statictype
This is why everyone (including those who love their iProducts) should hope
Android becomes/remains successful. Innovation like this only comes when the
competition is fierce. Being able to test drive apps on the web site itself
looks like a killer feature (as long as it works reasonably well). I'd love to
see someone compete with Apple's App Store and raise the bar on the selling
experience, if only to see how Apple will respond to it.

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_frog
I hardly see further fragmenting the Android ecosystem as being overly
innovative.

~~~
statictype
Sorry, what part of my comment are you replying to?

The part where I said the Amazon App Store's Test Drive feature was
innovative? Or something else?

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gwalker
Just searched for "Amazon App Store", it's way too early in the morning (in
ireland) for freaky results

<http://i.imgur.com/2W3UK.png>

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JonoW
Dude, WTF!

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JonoW
So serious around here, was referring to the picture...

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zacharycohn
You're getting downvoted because "Dude, WTF" doesn't add anything constructive
to the conversation.

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generalk
I'm noticing a lack of Android-ness with the Amazon apps. For example:

I just downloaded the Amazon store on my Nexus One and started downloading
Angry Birds Rio. The first thing I noticed is that, while downloading, there's
no ongoing notification like the Android Market has. If I navigate away from
the Amazon Appstore there's no indication I'm still downloading anything at
all. There was also no notification when it finished downloading; I had to
manually re-open the Amazon Appstore, then it gave me the standard "installing
an app" screen.

Even though I have the Amazon Kindle app installed and syncing, Amazon hasn't
set up an entry in the Android "Accounts" list, as the official Twitter and
Facebook apps have.

Also, the "menu" widgets are non-standard. This may seem like a minor quibble,
but it just adds to the "We're Amazon, we do things our own way" vibe I'm
getting.

I still plan on occasionally using the Amazon Appstore, and I can't speak to
the "test apps in your browser" functionality yet, but I can't see it
replacing the Android Market long-term.

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brisance
You must stay signed in to your Amazon account to use the app though.

I can't see how Google or the EFF would be pleased about it if it's for
analytics.

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?&no...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?&nodeId=200551840#using)

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simias
Does it mean you can't use the applications offline?

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trickjarrett
Not sure what it means, but I just launched Angry Birds Rio and it ran fine in
airplane mode.

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lemming
I think this could potentially be huge - the Market is less than awesome. The
integration with the Amazon Experience has the potential to change completely
the way people find apps - recommendations for apps related to whatever I'm
searching for could totally change the way I find them.

Not being able to use them offline would suck though.

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amitt
Seems the test-drive feature is disabled or not working (for me at least). The
tech behind how they got this to work is cool and could end up being a
competitive advantage vs. other app stores.

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ch0wn
Why does Techcrunch never provide any deeplinks? It's annoying as hell.

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portman
On my device (Motorola Droid), you need to first enable unsigned applications
in the system menu. Amazon guides you through this process very well on their
website, but still, I suspect that a lot of nontechnical folks will dropoff
due to the complex one-time installation process.

Do any people with better droid-fu know if it _always_ has to be this way?
Will future version of the Android App Store be able to have a more seemless
install process?

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Roritharr
There will probably pre-installed versions of the store on some devices, but
besides that it's the only option because selling an app store through the
android market is permitted.

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trotsky
I agree that I believe the main focus for amazon has always been pre-installs
on devices - similar to how they now pre-install the amazon mp3 store on a
large number of devices.

It also isn't a case of enabling unsigned applications (I believe all
applications still require a developer signature), but a case of enabling
installs from somewhere besides the google android market. Google won't let
other "app store" type apps on the android market on purpose, so it is
unlikely that the rules will be relaxed or changed unless they have a
philosophical/competitive change of heart.

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MatthewPhillips
I think this is going to be wildly successful. The one free premiere app each
day is going to have people coming back frequently. Once they get some
carrier/handset agreements to have the Appstore preloaded, this is going to
blow up.

And I think it's the way it should be. Google needs to concentrate on the
platform, let Amazon and their expertise in ecommerce handle this part.

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bad_user
On one hand, I'm thinking fragmentation is a problem.

On the other hand, Google has been slow on improving the Android Market --
interface doesn't allow discovery of noteworthy apps and I can't sell apps
from my country yet.

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ry0ohki
While the "Test Drive" is cool, the killer thing is that apps are reviewed,
which should lead to much better quality. Just submitted our app this morning,
and the process was pretty nice.

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naner
I wonder when Amazon is going to release their own Android device?

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db42
So, this competitor of google's own app store might be the best thing that
happened to android platform.

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yef
It also doesn't work on AT&T.

~~~
generalk
I'm using it on my AT&T Nexus One right now. Maybe there's some restrictions
on actual AT&T-branded/subsidized handsets?

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jra101
Android phones you buy directly from AT&T have sideloading disabled. I believe
you have to root the phone to turn this feature back on.

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makeramen
I can't see any App Store links yet, maybe regional rollout?

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tybris
Works for me: [http://www.amazon.com/mobile-
apps/b/ref=sa_menu_adr_app1?ie=...](http://www.amazon.com/mobile-
apps/b/ref=sa_menu_adr_app1?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011)

(from Ireland)

