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For application developers, monetisation has been a challenge. Other than paid apps or in-app purchases there is not much they can do. But Parag Gupta, principal, product management, Amazon India, tells Shivani Shinde Nadhe earnings for developers at the Amazon Android appstore are better than on other platforms. Edited excerpts:
Why would Amazon need an app store?
The application (app) store ecosystem is a large and exciting market and for us, it is about subscriber feedback. Our over 200 million users use Android handsets and our app store fits into that. Amazon App store is an Android app store. We are the largest and best shopping platform in the world. For us, Amazon Android App is a digital category within the Amazon ecosystem. We started in 2011, because we were seeing that the market for apps was increasing.
We have three channels through which we bring this offering. First, Kindle Fire in which the Amazon App store is embedded. We also have an Android platform, which can be downloaded on any Android smartphone. Third is through our web services.
How is the Amazon app store better than others?
We found three out of four apps run on apps from the Amazon store without any changes and also on the Kindle tablet. So, if you are a developer, you have a 75 per cent chance of making no investment in development and porting apps on this store. Second, we have all the major development platforms like Adobe, etc, which saves cost. We also offer tools like cloud-based test services (which allows one to test whether an app will work on Amazon) and analytics tools, among others. We are trying to build solutions where the cost of adoption will reduce drastically.
But monetisation and discovery of an app is the biggest challenge.
One of the reasons for our success is discovery. If you have an application, other apps developed by you will show up. Additionally, other similar apps will also show up, which means competition. Moreover, users will also get apps based on their shopping preferences. We know we are good at this, as we have data collected over the years and our ability to spot what a customer likes is based on these data patterns. We also have curated marketing. We also have a free app each day. Because it is free, volumes are high for it. It is up to developers how they make money from the acquired users.
We have several monetising methods. The typical method is in-app purchases. We have also built other features around these. We have launched mobile associates. If you are a game developer you get access to all the digital and retail catalogue of Amazon. If you sell one of these, you get up to six per cent associate fee. This model is popular on the web and we are bringing it to mobile phones. If someone is playing Temple Run and clears a certain level, then the developer can prompt them to buy British rock band Queen’s We are the champions song from our MP3 store.
Independent studies have shown monetisation [on our platform] is better than [on] Google and many say it’s close to [that on] iOS.
How many developers from India are on the Amazon app store?
We do not disclose that number. We do not have millions of apps or developers on our platform but we do have those that matter. If you look at the app economy, probably 10 per cent of apps drive over 90 per cent of downloads and in case of revenues, the ratio is even smaller. Hence, a small set of apps drive interest, downloads and monetisation. In that sense, we have lots of top-grossing apps on our portal.
Indian developers are still looking for the global platform. The global nature of our platform with 200 million active users engaged with the platform and with all the features that we give is being received well by developers. You can build on us, stay on us, distribute on us and monetise on us.
How are Indian users responding to Amazon Android app store?
We are just starting out. We launched Kindle in May this year, we launched Amazon.in and building on categories, Junglee.com has been there for long. We are building on user base. We are not where the US is but Kindle Fire has been received well. In just four months of ramp-up, India ranks in the top five download regions for Amazon. India is an extremely exciting ecosystem.
Why would Amazon need an app store?
The application (app) store ecosystem is a large and exciting market and for us, it is about subscriber feedback. Our over 200 million users use Android handsets and our app store fits into that. Amazon App store is an Android app store. We are the largest and best shopping platform in the world. For us, Amazon Android App is a digital category within the Amazon ecosystem. We started in 2011, because we were seeing that the market for apps was increasing.
We have three channels through which we bring this offering. First, Kindle Fire in which the Amazon App store is embedded. We also have an Android platform, which can be downloaded on any Android smartphone. Third is through our web services.
How is the Amazon app store better than others?
We found three out of four apps run on apps from the Amazon store without any changes and also on the Kindle tablet. So, if you are a developer, you have a 75 per cent chance of making no investment in development and porting apps on this store. Second, we have all the major development platforms like Adobe, etc, which saves cost. We also offer tools like cloud-based test services (which allows one to test whether an app will work on Amazon) and analytics tools, among others. We are trying to build solutions where the cost of adoption will reduce drastically.
But monetisation and discovery of an app is the biggest challenge.
One of the reasons for our success is discovery. If you have an application, other apps developed by you will show up. Additionally, other similar apps will also show up, which means competition. Moreover, users will also get apps based on their shopping preferences. We know we are good at this, as we have data collected over the years and our ability to spot what a customer likes is based on these data patterns. We also have curated marketing. We also have a free app each day. Because it is free, volumes are high for it. It is up to developers how they make money from the acquired users.
We have several monetising methods. The typical method is in-app purchases. We have also built other features around these. We have launched mobile associates. If you are a game developer you get access to all the digital and retail catalogue of Amazon. If you sell one of these, you get up to six per cent associate fee. This model is popular on the web and we are bringing it to mobile phones. If someone is playing Temple Run and clears a certain level, then the developer can prompt them to buy British rock band Queen’s We are the champions song from our MP3 store.
Independent studies have shown monetisation [on our platform] is better than [on] Google and many say it’s close to [that on] iOS.
How many developers from India are on the Amazon app store?
We do not disclose that number. We do not have millions of apps or developers on our platform but we do have those that matter. If you look at the app economy, probably 10 per cent of apps drive over 90 per cent of downloads and in case of revenues, the ratio is even smaller. Hence, a small set of apps drive interest, downloads and monetisation. In that sense, we have lots of top-grossing apps on our portal.
Indian developers are still looking for the global platform. The global nature of our platform with 200 million active users engaged with the platform and with all the features that we give is being received well by developers. You can build on us, stay on us, distribute on us and monetise on us.
How are Indian users responding to Amazon Android app store?
We are just starting out. We launched Kindle in May this year, we launched Amazon.in and building on categories, Junglee.com has been there for long. We are building on user base. We are not where the US is but Kindle Fire has been received well. In just four months of ramp-up, India ranks in the top five download regions for Amazon. India is an extremely exciting ecosystem.
