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Amazon Underground

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Re: Amazon Underground

#31

Post by theli0nheart »

gdeglin wrote: post #25
eloff wrote: post #3

I see this as hugely superior to the freemium model, both from the perspective of the user and the app developers. App developers no longer need to cripple their apps and sell in-app band-aids to make money. The developers of the more entertaining and engaging apps will make more money. End users no longer spend a bunch of time on a game only to find out they need to pay to advance to the next part, or bypass some ar…

This model comes with a few problems: 1) High quality games that are meant to be completed quickly will make less money relative to poor quality games that stretch out gameplay. 2) Developers become incentivized to stretch out gameplay to increase revenue. 3) Amazon Underground is covering the costs for now. But if users were asked to pay themselves, I'm sure many would balk at the idea of paying per-minute to play g…

How are 1) and 2) different than the status quo? Aren't developers already incentivized to keep users in their app for as long as possible? More touch points -> more IAP buying opportunities -> more money.

> 3) Amazon Underground is covering the costs for now. But if users were asked to pay themselves, I'm sure many would balk at the idea of paying per-minute to play games.

As I understand it, it's not a pay-per-minute sort of deal. You'd pay the same price every month and the revenue would be divied out based on usage (like Netflix).

Re: Amazon Underground

#33

Post by serve_yay »

buzz27 wrote: post #32

they ... actually think i'll read that stupid sideways fake ye olde typewriter typefaced "letter"?

Repeating my call for each HN post to have a new, separate comments section specifically for shitty comments about the page itself as opposed to the ideas contained therein

Re: Amazon Underground

#35

Post by [deleted] »

serve_yay wrote: post #33
buzz27 wrote: post #32

they ... actually think i'll read that stupid sideways fake ye olde typewriter typefaced "letter"?

Repeating my call for each HN post to have a new, separate comments section specifically for shitty comments about the page itself as opposed to the ideas contained therein

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Underground

#36

Post by pazimzadeh »

gdeglin wrote: post #25
eloff wrote: post #3

I see this as hugely superior to the freemium model, both from the perspective of the user and the app developers. App developers no longer need to cripple their apps and sell in-app band-aids to make money. The developers of the more entertaining and engaging apps will make more money. End users no longer spend a bunch of time on a game only to find out they need to pay to advance to the next part, or bypass some ar…

This model comes with a few problems: 1) High quality games that are meant to be completed quickly will make less money relative to poor quality games that stretch out gameplay. 2) Developers become incentivized to stretch out gameplay to increase revenue. 3) Amazon Underground is covering the costs for now. But if users were asked to pay themselves, I'm sure many would balk at the idea of paying per-minute to play g…

Point 1 and 2 seem like the same thing, but I agree.

Re: Amazon Underground

#37

Post by btilly »

serve_yay wrote: post #26

Interesting. Curious about the reaction to Google Play not allowing such an app. (I'm guessing restrictions on app stores are ok when Google does them)

Here is my best guess. And it really is a guess.

Everyone with an app store wants to own the app store market. It is a land-grab to establish a monopoly.

Amazon has to be worried about this because if you own the app store, you choose the default way that people read books on the device. Which means that they can cut Amazon out of the book-selling business to that person.

Amazon doesn't want that. So they have been trying to make the Kindle work. And to install their bookstore as an app. And to try to make their app store viable. And so on.

It is all a long-term play to be in a position to not lose a core business when everyone switches to reading on devices.

Re: Amazon Underground

#38

Post by anindyabd »

sigmar wrote: post #12

Took me a minute to find out what "actually free" means: https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/underground/do... "Interstitial Advertisements When a user launches an Amazon Underground app for the first time, a welcome message in the form of an interstitial ad plays. In subsequent times that a user either launches or resumes the app, paid interstitial ads will also sometimes play." Interesting. So amazon deal…

To be fair, Amazon didn't claim there wouldn't be any ads: https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1003016...

The promise is that there will be no payments for the app or for in-app purchases. Also, I've spent some time playing Angry Birds through Underground, and the ads seem much more unobtrusive compared to getting the "freemium" app through Google Play. I guess the philosophy is similar to the "Special Offers" on the Kindle e-book readers.

Re: Amazon Underground

#39

Post by untilHellbanned »

serve_yay wrote: post #33
buzz27 wrote: post #32

they ... actually think i'll read that stupid sideways fake ye olde typewriter typefaced "letter"?

Repeating my call for each HN post to have a new, separate comments section specifically for shitty comments about the page itself as opposed to the ideas contained therein

Why isn't the page itself relevant?
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