Skip to main content

9to5kindle.com

See All Stories

Amazon Appstore launches in-app purchasing for all devs, matches Apple’s 70-30 revenue split

Site default logo image

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1hsbY85Dt3Q]

Amazon is rolling out a new feature to developers distributing apps through the Amazon Appstore for Android that was previously only available to select partners. Starting today, all developers can now use In-App Purchasing features to offer users the ability to buy more content directly through their apps.

Based off Amazon’s one-click purchasing system, the new in-app purchasing features have been in beta for several months with developers including Gameloft, Disney, ZeptoLab, and publishers such as Conde Nast and New York Post. Allowing developers to offer content such as “upgrades, expansion packs, in-game currency” and magazine issues, Amazon appstore’s Director Aaron Rubenson explained to TechCrunch that Amazon will take a 30 percent cut from transactions like Apple and Facebook does. However, Amazon can set pricing, where developers will still receive 30 percent of the list price:

“We’re just following the paradigm that’s out there with the 70-30 split… This is a little bit different from the revenue share that we have for paid app sales. We looked at each purchase case separately.”

Storm8, a developer that was part of the beta, told AllThingsD that the in-app purchasing features generated an extra $700,000 in revenue for its 10 free-to-play apps during March.

As noted by TechCrunch, Amazon doe not seem to be limiting developers to its in-app purchasing technology for non-Kindle devices. In other words, Google’s in-app purchasing tech could be used for Android devices, but Rubenson confirmed only Amazon’s solution would work for Kindle Fire.

You can learn more about the Amazon Appstore developer program here. The full press release from Amazon is below:


Expand
Expanding
Close

Report: Amazon to launch three new Kindle Fire tablets this year

Site default logo image

Since the introduction of Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet, the company quickly proved there is indeed a market for the $199 Android hybrid. As pointed out in a report from Taiwan Economic News today, Amazon already shipped approximately 5 million units of the tablet that launched last September. Backing earlier rumors that Amazon planned to launch a larger 8-inch Kindle Fire sometime during 2012, the report claimed Amazon would roll out three new models of the tablet this year:


Expand
Expanding
Close

Barnes & Noble responds to Microsoft with 44 pages of prior art, requests evidence of patent misuse

Site default logo image

On Monday we updated you on Microsoft’s ongoing attempts to collect royalties from Barnes & Noble for their use of Android in Nook devices. In the process we got a look into some of the tactics Microsoft has been using to sign up Android vendors in licensing agreements.

Now, in another detailed report from Groklaw, we learn that Google has filed an objection to Microsoft’s most recent request for the company to respond to its motion in a reduced period of time. More importantly perhaps, Barnes & Noble has bombarded the ITC with almost 44 pages of prior art, in a “Supplemental Notice of Prior Art” filing. We of course can’t go over even a fraction of all the prior art listed in the full PDF, but you can expect to see just about everything from a ton of old Netscape Navigator stuff, to articles and technical documents on Adobe products, Hypercard, Mosaic, IBM OS/2, the Arena web browser, and articles on Apple’s Newton MessagePad 2000.

Barnes & Noble is also requesting the ITC issue a letter rogatory to Canadian company MOSAID Technologies, who hasn’t voluntarily handed over evidence of a deal it made with Nokia and Microsoft. As they describe (below), B&N seeks to use evidence of that deal to defend itself against Microsoft’s claims. A letter rogatory is essentially a letter of request from one country’s court to another, in this case the appropriate Canadian court, to request permission of an act that might “constitute a violation of that country’s sovereignty” otherwise. In other words, they need to get the Canadian’s court permission before going after MOSAID.

B&N described the situation in filing 464403 from November 16, 2011:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Manage push notifications

notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications
notification icon
We would like to show you notifications for the latest news and updates.
notification icon
You are subscribed to notifications