Amazon will switch on in-app purchases for Appstore for Android 'soon'

Another piece of the puzzle

Amazon's assault on Android has been sustained but also stately.

Apart from one glorious day, the Amazon Appstore for Android is still only available for North America users.

Similarly, the multi-million selling $199 Android-powered Kindle Fire is only available to buy for customers with Amazon.com accounts and North American postal addresses.

Every little counts

But even Americans don't yet have the option of using micro transactions on the appstore yet.

Amazon has been running an invitation-only beta SDK program for developers for some time, but now we're hearing from sources that the company is expected to flick the switch sometime soon - we're expecting March.

Obviously, this will be a big boost for the mobile gaming ecosystem, which is quickly moving to an in-app purchase model, especially on Android.

Indeed, with Kindle Fire the most successful Android tablet by far, some publishers are already seeing strong activity on the device. For example, G5 Entertainment recently announced 1 million downloads, although it not clear how many of these were paid.

Enabling IAP will ensure companies can start monetising their free downloads.

Developers can sign up for the beta program here.

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