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Amazon.com (AMZN) Debuts Amazon Underground Shopping App for Android

August 26, 2015 3:33 PM EDT

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) posted the following to its App blog on Wednesday:

Today we introduced Amazon Underground to customers in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. Amazon Underground is a new Amazon shopping app for Android phones that has all of the functionality of our regular Amazon mobile shopping app plus an exciting new benefit: over ten thousand dollars in apps, games and in-app items that are #ActuallyFree. We’ve made this possible by working out a new business model for developers - we’ll pay you on a per-minute-played basis in exchange for you waiving your normal download or in-app fees. This means, you can turn 100% of your Android users into revenue-generating customers, so from the minute your customers start playing, you start getting paid for each minute they use your Amazon Underground app. It’s a win for both customers and developers.

Introducing @AMZNUnderground: They Play. We Pay. You Win. Earn for every customer, every minute http://ctt.ec/ry8c2+ #ActuallyFree

Amazon Underground customers will find 100% free versions of popular premium titles like Office Suite Professional 8 and Fruit Ninja and popular titles with in-app purchases like Frozen Free Fall, Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, and many more. Any developer can submit their app, which means more apps and games will be added to Underground all the time.

Turn 100% of Your Android Users into Revenue-Generating Customers

In most app store models, developers are paid a revenue share based on the initial purchase of the app or the in-app purchases. With Amazon Underground’s innovative monetization approach, Amazon pays you for every minute a customer uses your Amazon Underground app ($0.002/minute at launch), and customers pay nothing.

There is no more guesswork around getting IAP optimized for the 2%-10% of customers that reportedly buy them. You can now focus on creating great content, storylines and characters that keep customers coming back. It’s all about increasing customer engagement.

More Engagement = More Revenue

Underground Has Apps & Games and More

We wanted to provide the most seamless experience for customers to shop, watch and play all in one place. With Amazon Underground, customers can now use a single app to discover and shop for hundreds of millions of items including physical goods, unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes from Prime Instant Video, songs, books, audiobooks, apps and games. The full Amazon Appstore selection is available in Amazon Underground, but customers can find 100% free apps by looking for apps and games marked as “actually free.”

Normally you’d go to Google Play to download an Android app onto your phone. Google’s rules don’t allow an app that offers apps or games to be included in Google Play. So, customers need to download the Amazon Underground app directly from Amazon.com. Underground apps and games are also automatically available on Fire HD and Fire HDX tablets.

Getting Started is Easy

Developers interested in publishing apps and games for Amazon Underground just need to Register for a free developer account and submit your paid or IAP-supported Android app. You can learn more in the eligibility and submission checklist.

Apps are free for customers and you start earning revenue for every minute customers use your Amazon Underground app.



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