E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, in a bid to increase the popularity of its Android-based Appstore among consumers and developers, is reportedly experimenting with a new service called Amazon Unlocked. Via this service, it will give away paid apps for free.
Per a presentation leak, which TechCrunch got hold of, Amazon is working on the idea of giving away a whole range of paid apps and associated in-app purchases free of cost. The plan, however, hasn’t been finalized yet.
The service will include gaming apps like the Sonic Dash game from famous app developer Sega America and a variety of games from companies like Sony America. It will not only be restricted to gaming apps. It will also include productivity apps like OfficeSuite 8 + PDF Converter, which is popular for reading and reviewing Microsoft MSFT Office apps on Android devices and Ultimate Guitar Tabs & Chords. The Unlocked service will offer everything related to these apps for free.
The report also says that developers will have the option to decide whether they wish to participate in the program. They can leave Unlocked at will and after that users will again have to start paying for in-app purchases. Amazon Unlocked will thus offer app developers a chance to make money off of their apps even after providing them for free.
The reports also revealed that Amazon plans to promote Unlocked on social networks and other platforms apart from promoting it on its own flagship app. However, the company did not comment on the reports.
If the rumor turns out to be true, the new service will boost downloads from Amazon’s Appstore and will also drive download of the Amazon app through which users will gain access to the Unlocked collection of apps. Depending on their search or download history, users will be recommended similar apps on Appstore.
The move thus is expected to help Amazon Appstore, which has over 400,000 apps, draw developers, lure customers from competitors and thereby drive revenues.
But we need to wait and see how the latest service helps Amazon as it still lags far behind Apple's AAPL App Store and Google GOOGL Play, which have over a million apps each. And it’s also not clear how successful it will be in pulling developers and customers from other platforms. Promos presumably won’t run forever.
Amazon currently holds a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
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