Amazon Talks Up Android Appstore Growth Ahead Of New Kindle Fire Announcement

And Amazon’s pre-announcement PR onslaught continues. While the recent Kindle Fire leak may have ruined Amazon’s big surprise, the online retail giant is still working to position itself as a hotspot for Android developers, and has just released some new stats about the growth of its Android Appstore to back up its claims.

Amazon’s official release simply mentions that the number of developers creating apps for its Appstore has grown “quickly,” but according to a related email, the number of developers has “more than doubled.” The company pegs that growth on its implementation of impulse-friendly one-touch app purchases, as well as the debut of new services like GameCircle that sought to bring Amazon’s mobile app ecosystem closer to those of its rivals.

Apparently, one of the biggest feathers in Amazon’s developer friendly cap is its in-app purchasing system, which it claims generates more than twice the revenue of the average paid app transaction. The service officially launched back in April (after a considerable beta period), and seemed like a considerable step forward in terms of developer monetization — if Amazon wanted to compete with the likes of Apple or Google’s own considerable app ecosystems, in-app purchases were a must have. As Kim-Mai pointed out at the time, Amazon retains the ability to dramatically discount the selling price of individual apps, but the company’s in-app purchasing scheme see developers earnings a straight 70% of the app’s list price.

The company was also quick to note in that email that the catalog of Kindle Fire-friendly apps has tripled since the tablet’s launch last November. Considering that the unveiling of a new Kindle Fire next week is basically a lock, I’m actually rather surprised Amazon didn’t do more to play up this stat. After all, the Kindle Fire is facing a much rougher competitive landscape than it did when it first launched with Google’s Nexus 7 picking up steam and the supposed iPad mini on the way. Still, there’s one important thing to take note of here — as was the case with some of Amazon’s other recent releases, Amazon hasn’t offered up specific numbers to back up these claims.