The Amazon Appstore will open its doors this summer to major European markets, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K., and now accepts app submissions from developer for distribution in the aforementioned countries, the company announced Wednesday.

Appstore, Amazon’s own apps marketplace that directly competes with the Google Play Store, launched in the U.S. last year. According to the world’s largest online retailer, the launch of its apps store in those European countries marks the kickoff of a global expansion.

Tim Shepherd, a senior mobile analyst at Canalys, thinks that the worldwide expansion of the Amazon Appstore is already due.

Shepherd said, “The Appstore has been pretty successful in terms of its first rollout in the U.S.”

Android smartphone users could make much use of alternative source for applications from a world-renowned brand name against the default Google Play Store, he added.

Amazon Appstore. (Image: Robert Nelson, via Flickr / CC)

Amazon is using its extensive retail environment to cross-sell apps and products.  For instance, a user who wants to look for books on recipes for cooking can get tips from a cooking app, thanks to Amazon, which already knows that this specific shopper uses an Android device.

“What marks the Amazon Appstore out from others is the discoverability of apps it provides,” said Shepherd. “Today, that is something Google Play doesn’t do very effectively. Amazon also curates apps more carefully, which has benefits when it comes to security.”

Shepherd said that app developers consider the Amazon Appstore as more lucrative on average, as opposed to the Google Play Store.

Prior to the global launching event, the company is urging developers to take a quick look at the distribution portal for more tips on apps localization via resource files for the different markets.

Apart from that, Amazon assured developers that they can choose the countries they want their apps to make revenues, and set list prices according to marketplace.

Amazon also revealed two changes to the distribution agreement. Effective July 1, app developers will receive 70 percent of list price for each app sale payment, as opposed to previous terms where developers pulled in 20 percent of list price or 70 percent of the app’s sale price.

Furthermore, Amazon made changes to the terms of the agreement to offer more wiggle room on the regulation of app submissions.

App developers now have better control on which apps they want to make available to users and when, said Amazon without disclosing further information on the terms.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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