Dear Amazon Android Market – So Long and Thanks For All The Books

It’s official, the Amazon Android Market has no hope of helping premium Android developers.

I’ve been hoping for an alternative to the Android Market which, despite the sales volume of Android, generates a fraction of the sales that iTunes does. I welcomed the Amazon Android market because they would likely fix all of the issues that the Google Android Market suffers from AND have the power of an e-commerce account with widespread adoption (just like iTunes).

Today, Amazon announced the availability for developers to submit their applications to their Android market. There’s one gigantic caveat though… Amazon can price YOUR app at whatever price THEY want. The price will never exceed your suggested retail price (“List Price”). Huh?

Let’s take a look at Amazon’s Developer License agreement, section 5g:

g. Our Operations. We have sole discretion to determine all features and operations of this program and to set the retail price and other terms on which we sell Apps.

Here’s how TechCrunch reported on it:

Amazon will use a variety of market factors to determine what price it wants to use, and you get a 70% cut of the proceeds of each sale (which is the industry standard). In the event that Amazon steeply discounts your application, or offers it for free, you’re guaranteed to get 20% of the List Price.

So if I’m Rovio (Angry Birds), or MLB, or any of the developers that generate million dollar revenues from their app sales, does Amazon really think that those companies are going to let them set the value of their apps… even to free?

Even worse, Amazon can undercut the price of your apps on Android as well as on other platforms like iPhone and Windows Phone 7. What if a customer buys an app on the Android Market, then goes to Amazon market and sees that it’s free. Now you’re stuck with a 1 star review from an angry customer that says they were robbed, and a negative hit on your company’s reputation. 

I pronounce the Amazon Android Market dead on arrival.

So long and thanks for all the books.

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