Australian studio Shifty Jelly pulls apps from Amazon Appstore after Free App of the Day fiasco
Claims retailer is 'rotten to the core'
The terms and conditions of Amazon's Appstore for Android have proven to be increasing controversial.
The most recent developer to complain about its ability to give away games and apps for free is Australian studio Shifty Jelly, which was horrified when it discovered there had been over 100,000 free downloads of its app on the store during the promo.
Free fiesta"That's right, Amazon gave away 101,491 copies of our app," the studio says in a post on its blog.
"Did the exposure count for much in the days afterwards? That's also a big no, the day after saw a blip in sales, followed by things going back to exactly where we started, selling a few apps a day.
"In fact Amazon decided to rub salt in the wounds a little further by discounting our app to 99 cents for a few days after the free promotion."
The developer's bone of contention is that Amazon had informed the studio it would receive no payment during the promo. In contrast, the orders report showed how much money the firm would have made, had the downloads been made at the app's usual price.
It was thought that although Amazon could tweak pricing, it would pay something - 70 percent of sales or a minimum of 20 percent of the list price if the game is heavily discounted or free.
Pulling out"What makes us mad though is the public perception that Amazon pays developers to be featured. Every single person we asked on Twitter or via email thought they were helping developers out, and getting a free application," the studio adds.
"Amazon does nothing to dispel these rumours, in fact they put really restrictive clauses at the bottom of their emails, saying that no one is even allowed to discuss these back door deals they are doing."
The end result is that Shifty Jelly has pulled out of the Amazon Appstore altogether, offering users a refund if they switch and buy the app from Android Market instead.
"I guess it’s just lucky for us that this was an experiment, and that we don’t make our full time income from selling Android apps, but rather from developing for iOS," the firm states.
"That said, we want to make a clear stand here, so that Amazon doesn’t take advantage of those less fortunate than us."
The firm also claims it had to buy additional hardware to meet the demand on its server.
[source: Shifty Jelly]
