Flipping Google the bird
Amazon first started talking about its plans to take on the incumbents in the app store game earlier this month. Initially focusing on Android, this marked the most significant effort yet by a third party to challenge the respective mobile platform-makers in the business of selling apps.
Well any doubt about how serious Amazon is about this venture has surely been removed today, following the announcement that the Amazon Appstore will have exclusivity on probably the most high profile app launch for a while: Angry Birds Rio.
Unless you've been living in a cave you'll be aware that Andry Birds by Rovio is the dominant mobile games franchise right now. We met Rovio CEO Mikael Hed late last year and he made it clear how focused he was on fully capitalising on the iPhone success of Angry Birds. Since then it has launched on a bunch of other platforms and in newer versions.
This latest version is the first we're aware of that has been made in collaboration with another piece of content - the animated film Rio, which is about a Brazilian parrot that can't fly. As such it should be a very high profile launch and will thus bring a lot of attention to the app store you can buy it from.
"The Android platform has seen phenomenal growth, and it's great that new avenues for app distribution are opening up," said Hed. "The openness of the Android platform works for the benefit of consumers and developers alike. It has been delightful to team up with Amazon to bring the Angry Birds franchise to this great new application marketplace."
"The Amazon Appstore will be a great new way for consumers to download all their favourite Android apps, and we're excited to offer Angry Birds Rio as one of the first pieces of content to be made available to consumers through this new store," said Peter Levinsohn, president of new media and digital distribution for Twentieth Century Fox.
The fact that Amazon has persuaded Rovio/Fox to go exclusively with its store indicates the Appstore is already a legitimate competitor to Google's Android Market, and it hasn't even opened yet. You can find out not much more about the launch here.
