Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) has recently announced the launch of its Appstore in nearly 200 countries, giving million of customers access to Amazon’s broad selection of Android mobile applications (apps). Currently, the Android-based Appstore is open in the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China and Japan.
Amazon’s Appstore provides a vast selection of apps (paid as well as free), games from top brands like Disney and Electronic Arts, new releases including Angry Birds Friends and Iron Man 3, personalized recommendations, click payments and customer reviews. It also offers features like the “Free App of the Day,” which enables users to access a paid app for free each day.
The Appstore is focused on Android apps that users can download or purchase for their Android handsets and tablets or any compatible Android device. The Kindle Fire tablets, built on the Android OS, use the Appstore as their main app distribution point. So it makes perfect sense that Amazon has expanded its Appstore at the same time when the company is ramping up its Fire tablet distribution.
Amazon entered the competitive tablet market with the Kindle Fire in Nov 2011 when Apple Inc. (AAPL) was already a major player. However, Amazon’s lower-priced Kindle Fire also witnessed very strong demand. Other players like Google Inc. (GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) have also stepped in to grab a share of the pie.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple is still leading the market with a 39.6% share, having grown 65.3% from the first quarter of 2012, followed by Samsung with a 17.9% share and Asustek with 5.5%. Amazon is in fourth position with a mere 3.7% market share.
The expansion of the app store internationally will provide customers a wide selection of Kindle tablets and books and help Amazon to increase its device sales. However, as Amazon is a leading player in the retail e-commerce market, the importance of its tablet lies in its ability to create a platform for Amazon to sell other products.
While the strong growth prospects are making the e-commerce market more competitive by the day, Amazon continues to maintain and even grow its share on the back of its consistent and reliable service. Amazon’s scale of offerings, its broad reach and platform approach are the keys to its success.
Currently, Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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