How to Implement Microtransactions on the Amazon Appstore?

Question

My company has an app that is available both in the Google Market and the Amazon Appstore. We're now looking to implement DLC in-app purchases. This is no problem with Google but it looks like Google doesn't allow 3rd party app stores to use their in-app billing system.

Since we were free the first day on Amazon and have considerable users who downloaded our app freely we're trying to implement pay-DLC on Amazon to recoup the lost revenue. Google aside, I'm sure there are other ways to handle in-app purchases, any suggestions that people have had experience with that involve simple, streamlined, & secure APIs for this?

Answer 1

Amazon Appstore for Android does not yet support In-App Purchasing (aka In-App Billing). However, there is a beta of an SDK they are developing, and access to that SDK is by invitation only (again, as of this writing). You can sign up here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/html-forms-controller/AmazonAppstore-IAPrequest

Answer 2

I am not aware of being able to use in-app purchases to buy from the Amazon Appstore. (I would post this as a comment but I can't seem to find the comment button.) The only thing I can think of would be to update your application to look for files outside of your app - specifically additional content. An example would be PowerAmp, where it can use an unlocker to keep going, but it would be more useful... However, I don't think the app-store lets you do that. You might just have to stick to the market.

Answer 3

Amazon's In-App Purchasing API (IAP) is publicly available. You can download the Amazon In-App Purchasing API, Documentation, sample code, and testing tools here:

https://developer.amazon.com/sdk.html

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*Opinion's expressed are my own, not my employer's. For official Amazon Appstore policies and guidelines, please refer to http://developer.amazon.com