Amazon’s Appstore Aims to Compensate For Android Marketplace’s Weaknesses
Amazon’s entry into app store sales today promises to deliver what Google hasn’t been able to so far — real paid downloads and in-app payments for Android developers.
The company, with millions of credit cards on file and 1-click ordering, might be able to convince consumers to pay where Google Checkout has so far had a complicated user experience. Although to be fair, Google is in the process of overhauling its payments solutions and will launch in-app payments to consumers by next quarter.
Because of Android’s open nature, expect a tight race between Amazon, Verizon and others to be the next best marketplace alongside Google’s officially sanctioned one. At the very least, Amazon’s debut should pressure Google to fix up many of its marketplace’s existing problems like discovery, opaque rankings and payments.
While Amazon’s app store doesn’t come pre-installed on Android phones, the Seattle-based company is trying to compensate and attract consumers in a number of ways:
1) Amazon is allowing customers to “test drive” apps, or use them on a simulated Android phone within the web browser before they buy. This should help prevent the returns problem, where consumers install an app only to return it minutes later. It used be a more severe problem when Android Marketplace’s returns window was 24 hours; it’s now 15 minutes.
Inside Social Games is pleased to announce AJ Glasser as our new lead writer. She’s joining us from video game industry publication GamePro Media to focus on the business of social games here at ISG.
Charles Hudson
The youngest pair of founders backed by early-stage venture firm Y Combinator is taking a shot at the social gaming market, with a Pokemon-style title called 
In order to battle, players move about the world map and have the option to visit sections classified by their difficulty (e.g. very easy, easy, medium, etc.). Once there, they engage a random monster and take turns battling in a traditional Pokemon style, with different attacks consuming different amounts of Energy. As the opponent weakens, they can utilize an item called a “Minocard” and attempt to capture it for their own collection. This works identically to “Pokeballs” in Pokemon, meaning that if the monster is not low enough on health, it will not be caught, thus players must weaken enemies to a low enough health so that they can be captured, without actually killing them. Moreover, regardless as to whether or not the new monster is caught, the Minocard is consumed.
A lot of the game is still in development, but even so, it does come with a surprisingly high level of art quality. As a matter of fact, the static visuals actually look better than many larger, more established developers’ titles, so it will be interesting to see how the title evolves over time.
Unlike the online game where a balanced party will include at least a healer and fighter, players will draft only heroes that will help their party maximize the weekly objective. The cost of a race/class combo can have something to do with how they perform, but this is not always the case. Similar to Fantasy Sports Leagues, the price of a hero rises with popularity, and falls when the race/class is not needed or does not perform.
