After some very revealing leaks earlier in the year, Amazon is now just days away from unveiling its one-of-a-kind 3D smartphone and the online retailer is already looking for ways to convert customers in a very crowded market. Amazon published a press release on Monday announcing that the Amazon Appstore now contains over 240,000 apps, tripling its content over the past year. Amazon’s digital currency, Amazon Coins, have also been hugely popular with games and services in the Appstore.
Amazon’s Appstore is not only increasingly attractive for users — the development community is growing as well. According to Amazon, the number of developers joining the Appstore every month has nearly doubled since 2013. An IDC survey reveals that 65% of those developers have been reporting the same or higher revenue while releasing apps for the Kindle Fire as they were on other platforms.
“Developers tell us that they experience improved reach, greater monetization, and, oftentimes, higher revenue when they have their apps and games in the Amazon Appstore,” said Mike George, Vice President of Amazon Appstore and Games. “But this is just the beginning—we’re building more services and capabilities for developers and more Android-based APIs based on their feedback.”
As TechCrunch points out, Amazon’s growth is impressive, but the newcomer to the phone market is nowhere close to catching up with the 1 million+ apps on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. That said, the tide could begin to shift if Amazon’s phone is a hit.
