The Amazon Appstore has been open for business since Tuesday and in my initial review I was not in love with it enough to ditch the Android Market. After 5 days, things have not changed, and as I expected, they are providing some really nice deals that make it a great alternative to the Android Market. Unfortunately it is only available for customers located in the US and not on AT&T.
Each day a different app will be featured as the free app of the day. Today it is SwiftKey, which is normally priced at $1.99. Yesterday, Shazam Encore was offered for a savings of $4.99. On Thursday, you could have saved .99 cents on Doodle Jump and on Wednesday the savings was $4.99 on World Series of Poker: Hold’em Legend. These deals are not hard to find as they are front and center on the home page. The deals section also features apps with savings ranging from 17% to 50%.
Amazon is doing this to create business, but it is smart marketing as well. The only way for the appstore to succeed is constant traffic. You will need to regularly log in to see what the deals are and so far it seems worth your time.
The exclusive offerings also make the Amazon Appstore attractive. We already knew about Angry Birds Rio, but they are now offering ad free versions of Angry Birds and Angry Birds Seasons for .99 cents each. Screenatics is another exclusive that is a lock screen replacement. The interesting thing is that Amazon is not making it easy to find exclusives. You would think they would have an “exclusives” section, but again their goal is for you to regularly shop in the appstore.
The reason I prefer the Android Market is because it has approximately 150,000 more apps and it is easier to have most of your apps tied to one place. On the other hand, if I can save $2.00 or more on a particular app, I will definitely download it from Amazon. If an app is free in both places, I will download it from the Android Market. Earlier in the week when I was conducting my review, I downloaded Pulse News from Amazon for testing. After realizing that I actually liked the app, I uninstalled the Amazon version and re-installed it from the Android Market since they both offer it free.
For now, Angry Birds Rio is the only Amazon app I have, but I do plan on browsing Amazon regularly for deals and exclusives. It is the same as if I were buying a new toaster oven. I may find it more convenient to buy it from a store down the street from me, but if I feel like the savings is worth the extra 5 or 10 mile drive I will take it. Amazon has made it clear that it is about price and exclusivity and there is nothing wrong with that. Choice is a good thing and I am thankful that Android gives me that choice.