Analysis: Amazon Appstore has cheaper and exclusive Android titles, but Glu is selling freemium games

There's been plenty of excitement about the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android, despite it only being available for US consumers.

And while we're just a week into its life, it's a good opportunity to take a quick look at how it's shaping up compared to the Android Market and the Apple App Store.

In order to do this, I've broken down the availability and pricing of 50 games on the Amazon Appstore with its competitors.

Obviously, all 50 are listed on Amazon, while five aren't listed on the Android Market, notably Angry Birds Rio, which is currently exclusive to Amazon, as well as a couple of Glu titles and Jet Set's Highborn.

Incidentally, the growing maturity of Android as a platform can be seen as 15 of the 50 aren't available for iOS.

You can see how the top 20 paid games (from 29 March 2011) on the Amazon Appstore compare in the following table.

When it comes to pricing - something Amazon is expected to shake up with its deals system - there are two contradictory trends.

Most Android prices are the same, but, as expected, some games are cheaper on the Amazon Appstore due to publishers' decision.

For example, HeroCraft's Majesty is $1.99 on Amazon but $2.99 on Android Market, while its Farm Frenzy is $1.99 on Amazon and £1.99 (c. $3.20) on Android market. Similarly, Android specialist developer Hexage has Radiant HD at $1.99 on Amazon and £1.49 (c. $2.38) on Android Market.

Alternatively Gamevil's Baseball Superstars 2011 is $1 cheaper on the Appstore for Android because Amazon has itself cut the price as one of its deals.

What's much more fascinating though is at least one publisher is using Amazon's brand as the opportunity to see if it can charge more than on other platforms.

That example is Glu Mobile, which is playing a very interesting game. Its freemium title Toyshop Adventures is - as you'd expect - available for free on the Android Market, or you can get an ad-free, Extra Bonus version for $2.99. On Amazon Appstore, only the $2.99 version is available.

It's a similar situation with Glu's Glyder 2 and Bonsai Blast, both available for free or paid ad-free versions on the Android Market, but only in paid versions on Amazon.

The consumer trust of the Amazon brand, combined with the easy of purchase, would seem to reason for what would otherwise would be a very strange pricing decision.