Competitor Monitoring: Amazon Launches Virtual Currency To Entice Kindle Fire App Developers

6 Feb 2013 | Profitero
Amazon has launched Amazon Coins, its new virtual currency, with the aim of encouraging more shoppers to spend on applications and games on its eCommerce site. Developers will then receive 70 per cent of the currency spent when Amazon converts it into dollars.

The etailer said it would give shoppers “tens of millions of dollars” of Amazon Coins to spend on applications and games. The new scheme will be available to US customers from May. Amazon Coins can only be spent on apps and games that are available on its Kindle Fire tablet.

The company hopes to grow market share at the expense of its competitors in this field: Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Amazon has more than 200 million active customers; Apple’s iTunes service – including the App Store – has more than 400 million. “Now we have another new way to help developers reach even more of our millions of customers,” said Paul Ryder, vice president of apps and games at Amazon.

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