to attract application developers

The Internet company Amazon has launched its own electronic currency, Amazon Coins, which is currently only available for use in its own app store for the Kindle Fire tablet. In the future, they plan to expand the use of the currency to other Amazon online services. The Amazon Coins to dollar rate is now 100:1.

Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files, Reuters

The Internet company Amazon has released its own electronic currency, Amazon Coins. Currently, the currency is only available for purchases in the app store for Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet. In the future, there are plans to expand the use of the currency to other Amazon online services.

The Amazon Coins to dollar rate is now 100:1. All Kindle Fire owners are given the first 500 Amazon Coins as a bonus, meaning users will be able to purchase $5 worth of games and applications in the Amazon Appstore. Amazon promises discounts of up to 10% for wholesale buyers of the new currency.

With Amazon Coins, the company plans to increase demand for apps, which in turn will make the Kindle Fire more attractive to developers. As before the appearance of the new currency, developers will receive 70% of the profits from downloading paid applications. Amazon hopes for an influx of new developers, thanks to which the Amazon Appstore will be replenished with new applications and will be able to more successfully compete with the main market players - Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

It is worth noting that Amazon, unlike Apple, whose devices are sold in the premium price segment, offers Kindle Fire tablets at an affordable price and receives the bulk of its income from application sales, as well as the use by Kindle Fire owners of other Amazon online services integrated into the tablet .

Amazon is not the first Internet company to launch its own electronic currency. Thus, Microsoft Corporation created the MS Points currency, but it did not gain popularity among users, since it was intended exclusively for circulation in Xbox services.

It is also worth recalling the existence of the universal Internet currency Bitcoin, which has existed since 2009 and is gaining increasing popularity. According to some reports, the total volume of bitcoins in real money is now estimated at $600 million. Between January and March 2013, the bitcoin to euro rate increased tenfold against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis in the euro area. Experts believe that Europeans are trying to insure their savings and are looking for a safe haven on the Internet by transferring their savings into virtual currency.

Natalia Barkhatova

Amazon has created its own virtual currency