On the same day that Amazon announced that stocks of the Kindle Fire had run out, it also, finally, launched its Appstore in UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

Amazon's Appstore launched in the US in March 2011 - so why has it taken so long to expand to serve Amazon's European customer base?

When Amazon announced in June 2012 that the Appstore was soon to extend into Europe it was widely assumed that this also meant that the Kindle Fire was also going to become available. But no - the Kindle Fire, Amazon's tablet that runs a customized version of Android, has already reached the end of its life - and given the criticism it faced for being underpowered running out of stock at this point in time is a really welcome achievement.

Both Amazon announcements just a week before a media event at which Amazon is expected to unveil the next generation Kindle Fire and maybe when it launches it will be simultaneously into Europe as well as into the US. Amazon claim that the Fire has 20% of the Android market - but for the moment this is the US only market. To make an impression Fire has to be a world device.

For developers, having extra customers must be a good thing and also important is the change that Amazon made back in June. Until then developers earned the greater of either 70% of the sales price or 20% of the list price. Now developers receive 70% of the list price, which is in line with other app stores. It is also worth noting that Amazon has waived the annual fee for being enrolled in its Developer Program for 2012.

More Information

Amazon Developer Blog

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