Amazon has contacted Fire TV app developers to inform them that paid apps and apps with any in-app purchasing options will be temporarily unavailable in the Netherlands, Poland, and Sweden. This means that many apps, including my own Downloader app, will not be installable on Fire TV Sticks in those regions. Read more ›
Amazon expanded the availability of the Amazon Appstore to include Mexico several years ago, but many apps have always been excluded. That’s because customers in Mexico did not have access to any apps that were not free or included any kind of in-app purchase. That included my Downloader app because, even though it is a free app, the in-app donation buttons have kept Fire TV users in Mexico from downloading the app. That finally changes on November 1st because Amazon is adding support for appstore payments in Mexico. On that date, most paid apps and apps with in-app purchases, including Downloader, will become available in Mexico.
The Amazon Fire TV appstore currently consists of 4,306 apps and games. That number has dropped by over 100 since yesterday. All of the apps and games removed were listed as being only compatible with the 1st-gen Fire TV, indicating that the likely reason for their removal is incompatibility with the upcoming Fire OS 5 software update expected to arrive in February. Among the apps removed, 60 of them were games, which accounts for the majority of the removed apps. 25 of the games removed were “tablet games on TV,” which are probably some of the least played games on the Fire TV due to their less than ideal control scheme. The second largest category of apps effected is the novelty category, which is a bit of a catch-all category that includes a wide variety of apps ranging from streaming services to sound effect apps. With the jump from an Android 4.2.2 based operating system to an Android 5.1 based operating, app incompatibility is expected. If there are specific apps or games removed that you’ll miss, point them out in the comments below.
Ever since the first Amazon Fire TV was released in April of last year, I’ve been tracking its appstore’s steady growth. That ends today because, since Fullscreen, Inc. began their barrage of apps made from YouTube channels, the number of Fire TV apps is meaningless and misleading. Fullscreen, the largest YouTube network with over 50,000 channels under its umbrella, has been steadily releasing procedurally generated apps for their partnered YouTube channels since the beginning of September. They have released 1,542 apps so far, at an average rate of 70 apps per day, with no signs of letting up. This flood of apps, all of which approved by Amazon, has disingenuously pushed the Fire TV’s appstore beyond 4,000 apps. Read more ›
The Amazon Fire TV Appstore has hit another milestone by reaching 2,000 total apps for all Fire TV models. The rate at which new apps are arriving has been steadily increasing since the Fire TV’s launch in April of last year. The Fire TV Appstore gained its second thousand apps in nearly half the time it took to acquire its first thousand apps. The 1,000 app milestone was achieved 306 days after the Fire TV launched, and the 2,000 app milestone occurred just 180 days later.
Developers have been taking notice of the Fire TV Stick’s popularity, resulting in fewer and fewer apps being only compatible with the more powerful Fire TV. Only 13% of Fire TV apps are not compatible with the Fire TV Stick, with the vast majority of those apps being higher-end games. If the recent Fire TV Stick 2 leaked specs are any indication, that won’t be the case for much longer.
Last week, a game developer by the name of “Flying Leaf Arcade” flooded the Fire TV appstore with 57 new games. I mentioned in my weekly post about new apps that these games were all essentially the same crummy game with slight variations. In the games, you moved a character up and down the left side of the screen to avoid obstacles coming from the right. Instead of allowing you to change the character you move in the game or change the enemy you avoided, the developer released a different app for each different character and each different enemy. For example, one game was titled Forest Jump Shooter Dragon versus Turtle while another game was titled Forest Jump Shooter Dragon versus Pegasus. It was a bit surprising the games made it past Amazon’s review process, but thankfully Amazon took notice after the fact and has now removed all the games from the Fire TV appstore. I don’t think Amazon should approve or reject apps based on a quality metric, but I feel they made the right move here due to the spammy nature of the removed games.
About 3 months after reaching 1,000 apps, the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick Appstore has reached its next milestone of 1,500 apps. Ofcourse, the quantity of apps isn’t as important as the quality. Since the last milestone, we’ve seen several console caliber games released like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Tales from the Borderlands, and XCOM: Enemy Within. Some great indie games have also been released recently, like Hotline Miami, Space Marshals, and GoatZ. Games are among the most popular apps and continue to make up half the Fire TV’s app library, but there have been several noteworthy entertainment apps released recently as well. Read more ›
On the verge of Amazon Prime’s 10th birthday, Amazon has another milestone to celebrate. The Amazon Fire TV app library has just reached 1,000 apps. Thanks to a stellar month of December, which brought over 100 new apps, this achievement comes about 300 days after the original Fire TV was released. Read more ›
A new report from Newzoo analyzing gamer spending trends across all three major appstores has revealed that the Amazon Appstore has the highest percentage of users who spend money on games. 64% of Amazon Appstore users have purchased games versus an average of 41% across all app stores and just 37% on Google Play. Appstore users as a whole who spend any money on gaming is up 10% since 2012, with the total number of appstore users up 23%. The US and UK have among the highest percentages of gaming spenders, while Italy and the Netherlands have the smallest percentage.
The daily app deals and free coin rewards have no doubt played a role in Amazon’s success. One look at the sidebar on this website, which I update numerous times a day, will show you the abundance of game deals available at Amazon.
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