Amazon has just announced a new Android app store called Amazon Underground, and the company promises “over ten thousand dollars in apps, games, and in-app items that are actually free.”
It looks like Amazon is picking up the tab on some freemium apps and offering them to people for free.
“Many apps and games that are marked as free turn out not to be completely free,” says Amazon. “They use in-app payments to charge you for special items or to unlock features or levels. IN Underground, you will find 100% free versions of popular premium titles.”
Amazon says it’s already populated with apps like OfficeSuite Professional 8, PhotoSuite4, Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, Looney Tunes Dash, and Angry Birds Slingshot Stella.
Amazon says this is made possible by a new type of agreement with developers.
“We’re paying them a certain amount on a per-minute played basis in exchange for them waiving their normal in-app fees. To be clear, we’re the ones picking up those per minute charges so for you it’s simply free.”
“Normally, you’d go to google Play to download an Android app … but Google’s rules don’t allow an app that offers apps or games to be included in Google play,” says Amazon.
So if you want to download Amazon Underground, you’ll need to do it directly from the source.