Here it is! The moment all Android users have been waiting for! The Amazon App Store! I have to say, being both an Android and Apple user, I was very excited to see what Amazon would be offering in their special, just for Android, App store. I quickly downloaded the App, and, to my dismay, was very disappointed in what I saw. It’s basically the Android Market with a different background. As far as I could tell, there were no different apps in the Amazon App Store that the Android Market didn’t already offer.
On a positive note, the Amazon App Store does offer a “paid app of the day” for free, and today was Angry Birds Rio, which normally sells for 0.99 cents. Myself, being an Angry Bird Addict, was thrilled to get it for free. (Sorry Apple users, Angry Birds Rio is not offered free in the Apple App Store)
The beginning process was easy, just log into your Amazon account via the Amazon App Store, find Angry Birds Rio (on the front page) and click download. Here’s where I encountered another disappointment: The App took FOREVER to download. On my Droid X it usually takes less than 30 seconds for an app to download on the Market. On the Amazon App Store, it took 3-4 minutes to complete the download (on 3G). I know for some of you that may not seem like a very long time, but for myself, who can be very impatient, it seemed like forever.
So, all in all, the concept of a second app store is a great idea. I’m hoping in the future Amazon will offer different apps than the Market already does and they improve their download speed. I give the Amazon App store a generous 6/10.
Written by: Maryanne
Twitter: @BostonBombshell
