14 DAY TRIAL // There are a few weeks left until Christmas, so you’re probably busy shopping for gifts as much as you can. But some people like purchasing their stuff from the comfort of their own home and most of these folks (granted, not all) are probably relying on the Amazon app.
But if you’re an Android user, you probably noticed that the Amazon app has inexplicably disappeared from the Google Play Store. The URL for the Amazon’s app product page continues to be active, but the application is no longer searchable directly from Google Play. Bummer.
So what happened here? Amazon appears to have got a little greedy when it came to distributing its library of apps and games in the Android palace and Google didn’t particularly like that.
Amazon Android app becomes Amazon Shopping
Interestingly enough, a new app showed up, called Amazon Shopping, which is pretty much the same as the original with one exception – it does not have the Appstore.
The new application features all the regular shopping tools you might expect to find, minus the Appstore, meaning you won’t find anything to download, no apps or games or that kind of thing.
A few weeks ago Amazon updated its Android app to include the possibility to install third-party apps directly from Amazon instead of having to access to apps from the Play store.
But given that Google was against offering app stores in Google Play, the fact that Amazon managed to bend the rules proved a little bit puzzling.
The Amazon app wasn’t in accordance with Google’s Developer Distribution Agreement
Android Police contacted Amazon to ask for clarification on the matter, and the retail tech giant’s response was that the Amazon app had been removed following an update to Google’s Developer Distribution Agreement. This still doesn’t explain why Amazon felt the need to release an entirely different app, as opposed to updating the new one altogether.
The new version of the agreement bends a certain type of apps. More specifically, it rules against applications that “facilitate that distribution of software applications and games for use of Android devices outside the Store.”
In other words, it’s the Apps&Games section that brought on the downfall of the original Amazon app. The company got a little greedy trying to get customers to purchase third-party apps through its own application and got busted for it.
Naturally, the now defunct Amazon’s Android app not only concentrated on selling third-party apps but also allowed customers to access its huge library of products. But Amazon probably felt like it need a fresh start, so it unleashed the almost identical Amazon Shopping.
