Over at the Amazon Appstore developer blog today the announcement went out that an Android SDK and an in-app purchasing API are now available for app developers. The in-app purchasing API will enable developers to offer content and subscription purchases from within their apps.
In the blog post, Amazon claims they have created the in-app purchasing API to make it easier for developers to monetize their apps on the Kindle Fire and other Android devices that have the Amazon Appstore. The API will allow users to use Amazon’s 1-click purchasing within apps, making those purchases very easy and impulsive.
This is the same method that Google and Apple use in Google Play and the Apple App Store. In Apple’s app Ecosystem, app makers must run subscriptions and purchases through the iTunes store – where Apple takes their nice 30% cut right off the top. Amazon will be taking that same 30%. In opening an API for developers, Amazon is hoping to lure more developers to place their app on Amazon’s Appstore where Kindle Fire users can access them. And it might work, if Amazon can make it easier that the other app stores for users to buy and even easier for developers to offer.
Amazon has also created an Appstore Developer Portal for developers to get started coding. In the near future they will be updating the developer blog with posts from in-app purchasing beta program partners Glu Mobile, G5 Entertainment, Storm8, and the New York Post.
Though in-app purchasing API was just released, it was announced several weeks ago in this video: