Amazon's Appstore for Android is heading for Europe, reports say -- could the Amazon Kindle Fire be far behind?
Amazon's 7-inch multimedia Kindle Fire tablet is only available in the United States, just like you can only download apps from the Amazon Appstore in the US. But AllThingsD reports that the AppStore will open its doors in Europe this summer, with the online retail giant expected to invite app developers aboard next week.
The Appstore has been open for just over a year as a rival to Google Play, the official Android app market. The Kindle Fire launched last year and sales caught fire instantly, selling millions. But sales are now in decline, so it seems a good time for the Fire to spread to Europe and the UK.
The hold-up is that the Fire is so focused on movies, music and other media that it relies on deals with makers of those types of content. The licensing of content is different in different countries, so striking new deals is insanely complicated, holding up content-focused technology and services from crossing the pond.
Even accounting for those delays, Amazon seems slow to bring its kit to Britain. The original Kindle ebook reader took over a year to reach these shores.
Rumours of a UK launch for the Fire have been gathering pace lately, with the bookseller-turned-everything-seller recently telling industry types "If you're not talking to us, you should be". But even if the Kindle Fire doesn't turn up, the opening of a new Android app store should encourage Google to continue to improve its own app shop.
Other Kindle Fire speculation that won't go away include whisperings of a 10-inch model to directly rival the iPad.
Do you think the Kindle Fire is finally heading to Britain -- and would you buy one? Will the Amazon Appstore increase competition or just make things more complicated for consumers and developers? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters
Comments 6
Add your comment
anonymous 13 June, 2012 18:49
Had the Fire launched in the UK last year I would definitely have bought one... Now I'd rather buy Google's Nexus 7 tablet which will hopefully be revealed at Google I/O at the end of the month.
pablouk1 13 June, 2012 21:45
Far far too late, I like many others I know are waiting for Google's version.
anonymous 13 June, 2012 22:03
Too late. I would have bought one too had we not been ignored unlike US customers. Hello Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Android 4.0 and a wider choice of content to choose from. Bye Amazon
billfred 14 June, 2012 19:40
Still not buying a tablet.
anonymous 16 June, 2012 18:09
I'd definitely buy one
anonymous 19 June, 2012 11:11
I seriously doubt we've been ignored, it's just not that easy to get content available in this country, clearly, and we are obviously a far smaller market than the US.
Trouble for Amazon is that the success of a the Kindle Fire in any country is 100% dependent on the strength of their catalogue. If, like, say Lovefilm and Netflix, they struggle to get a really wide range of online content, then the Kindle Fire will be pointless and it will struggle. I just hope that the massive delay is that Amazon are working hard to have the biggest online catalogue in the UK.
I do like that Amazon understands the tablet idea better than anyone. No fancy marketing about it doing this or that pointless task, or useful tasks made infinitely more difficult by the tablet form. Tablets, until Windows perfect their Windows 8 tablets, are pure consumption machines.