Amazon Preparing Android Application Store

With millions of applications flying off of the virtual shelves daily, Amazon is looking to get a piece of the action. Soon Android users will be able to buy apps from Amazon's soon to be launched marketplace.Amazon intends for users to be able to purchase applications both from their PC and mobile device. Android 1.6 and higher are being targeted first, but they will cover other platforms in the future. Two platforms they won't be covering though are iOS and Windows Phone 7. Those two are locked into Apple's and Microsoft's stores respectively. That still leaves room for Blackberry, WebOS and Symbian, though the longevity of the latter two are in question.

Initially only the US market will be served, but that applies only to the customer. You can be an international developer and sell apps, your native market just won't be able to buy your wares for now. As a developer, you would get the greater of 70 percent of the sale price or 20 percent of the list price. Honestly, I am not sure what that means. Maybe a newer FAQ will explain the difference between the sale price and list price. For developers to participate, Amazon will charge a $99 annual fee, though for the first year, the fee is waived. Free apps are, of course, welcome.

If you are a developer and interested, head over to Amazon's developer portal. There you will find all of the details on getting started and tons of technical info, like icon sizes, screen shot specs and even information on promotional videos you can use to promote your app.