For many developers, releasing Android apps on Amazon is leading to greater results than releasing the same app through the official Android Market.
In yet another chapter to the story of how Amazon is becoming one of the biggest players in the Android world, app analytics group Distimo noted that of the top 110 apps that are available in both the Android Market and the Amazon Appstore, 42 of them made more money on Amazon.
Okay, so that’s not even half, but look at what we’re saying – apps that are purchased through an external website, meaning users need to log onto a computer, register their Android phone, complete the purchase through Amazon, and follow the instructions on their Android phone to get the content, are doing better than the same apps that are available directly on the phone.
This is as much a testament to Amazon’s marketing abilities as it is to the broken nature of the Android Market, which despite being owned by the leader in online search engines makes it unnecessarily difficult to find content.
Of course, these latest numbers also reflect the popularity of the Kindle Fire, which is inherently linked to Amazon, making the online retailer an even bigger player in app distribution.
If you take a look at Apple by comparison, for example, where can you get iTunes apps for your iPhone or iPad? On iTunes only. There is no third-party method of getting this content. Is that better for consumers? It’s certainly better for Apple.
But this just goes to show that making an open platform allows third parties to make an even bigger impact. Kudos to Amazon.
