Amazon to give away virtual coins to boost apps development

Amazon.com will give away “tens of millions of dollars’” worth of virtual coins that customers can use to buy real apps from the company’s Appstore.

The Seattle-based online retailer announced “Amazon Coins” Tuesday morning, saying customers will be able to spend the virtual money on apps submitted to and approved for Amazon’s Appstore by April 25. The coin giveaway starts in May.

“Amazon Coins is an easy way for Kindle Fire customers to spend money on developers’ apps in the Amazon Appstore, offering app and game developers another substantial opportunity to drive traffic, downloads and increase monetization even further,” the company said in a statement.

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Essentially, Amazon Coins is a way for the company to entice more developers to create apps for its platform by getting more customers to buy more apps.

Amazon did not offer details on how it will give away the Amazon Coins to customers other than saying that virtual currency will debut in May.

Developers interested in learning more about Amazon Coins can do so on Amazon’s website, the company said.

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