Amazon says it will offer extra promotion and cloud computing credits to app developers who optimize their software for the company’s Kindle Fire tablets and exclusively use Amazon’s services for in-app purchasing, mobile ads and video games.
The Amazon “Developer Select” program, announced this morning, also will give users an incentive to buy apps from the program, by returning a portion of the purchase price (up to 30 percent) in Amazon Coins credits, which users can apply toward the purchase of additional games and apps.
It’s a new push by the company to increase third-party developer support for its Kindle Fire tablets — competing against Google, Apple and Microsoft for the attention of the top app makers. The move could also help lay the groundwork for apps on future Amazon devices, such as a rumored smartphone.
The use of Amazon Web Services credits as an incentive provides an interesting tie-in to one of the company’s biggest strengths in the developer world. Amazon says developers accepted into the “Select” program will receive 25 percent credit back on qualifying AWS products, up to $500/year.
Amazon says the extra promotion for “Select” apps will include access to “dedicated merchandising slots” on the Amazon Appstore home page and Kindle devices, plus 500,000 free mobile ad impressions on Kindle and other Android devices.
More details and an FAQ available on this Amazon developer page.
