Amazon will stop offering free apps
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Amazon will close its Underground app, where until now it offered Android applications for free as an offer These apps usually cost money , but for the section they were offered free of charge. On the 28th, Amazon made this closure official, which, however, will not be completed until 2019.
Up to 20,000 free apps
This project was born in 2015, offering well-known apps such as Angry Birds or Frozen Free FallAs of today, up to 20,000 apps form this program. But what was the goal of this section? What did Amazon earn? The truth is that the creation of Amazon Underground had a certain promotional background.
The Fire family tablets, owned by Amazon, had direct access to this tool. Therefore, this app was a great incentive for users to start buying them.
Compensation system
The apps included in the Underground section did cost money if you searched for them in the Play Store. How was Amazon doing to offer them for free? The company offered compensation to developers paying them in proportion to the time users spent using the app.
It is not the first time that Amazon uses this system.In his Kindle Unlimited service, which allows access to a huge catalog of eBooks for a fixed amount, he already used it. The compensation in this case was decided in relation to the number of pages read by the users of each eBook
No official reason
The online store has not specified a specific reason for the closure of this tool However, it has been very precise regarding the closing times. From now on, new apps and games will be prevented from appearing in the catalog. Later, in summer, access from the Play Store will be closed. Kindle users will be able to continue using Undergrond until 2019.
We imagine that there is a profitability reason behind this decision. Perhaps the payments did not compensate the use of the app. In any case, if someone wants to take the opportunity to download Amazon Underground until its total closure, they still have time.
