Amazon launched a new API today that gives Android and Kindle Fire developers the ability to earn money from goods that users buy on Amazon.com via an in-app purchase.
By incorporating the new Mobile Associates API, app developers can earn up to 6 percent of every sale on Amazon’s site – a lucrative new form of revenue – while reducing the amount of friction that users often associate with leaving their current app and navigating to Amazon.com.
Developers can use the feature in a few different ways; they can sell a single item from within an app (think physical Angry Birds merchandise linked to one of their games), point to an entire category of products or bundle physical and digital goods together. The latter is particularly helpful for those that want to sell cross-platform media, such as selling a physical record alongside the digital version in a music app.
The feature should attract developers looking for new ways to monetize their apps or related physical goods, but it’s clearly Amazon that has the most the gain to here. Few online retailers offer such deep integration, and offering seamless one-click purchasing will only increase its sales.
➤ Amazon (Press release)
Image Credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images
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