Amazon’s Appstore is launching in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, in what’s a pretty strong hint that the Kindle Fire will soon make it to Europe too.
The company’s mini-mart version of the Android App Store launched in the US last year, offering free and paid apps. Now, it’s launching in new countries with localized content and a localized mobile store for each.
Customers will also get a ‘Free App of the Day’ – today’s is the ad-free version of Angry Birds.
“Amazon’s Free App of the Day program is really unique,” says Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio.
“Over the past year we have offered Amazon customers some of our best-selling premium games like Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Seasons for free, and the response has been truly overwhelming.”
Europeans will also get features like personalized recommendations, customer reviews and one-click payments.
“Customers in the US have purchased millions of apps, games, in-app items and subscriptions since the store launched last year, and we’ve received great feedback about discovery features like Free App of the Day.” says Jim Adkins, vice president of Amazon Appstore.
“Amazon has spent years developing innovative features that help customers find and discover the products that are right for them and have applied that know-how to the Amazon Appstore. We’re delighted to extend that experience to our European customers.”
The move may very well be a sign that the Kindle Fire is finally about to cross the Atlantic too. Launched last November, it’s so far been available only in the US, as the company hasn’t had the necessary licenses in place to provide its music and movie services.
There’s an announcement scheduled for next Thursday in Los Angeles, at which the company’s expected to reveal a new version of the tablet. It now seems likely that there’ll be a European release to announce too.
