Amazon Underground is a new app for Android phones where customers can access over 1,500 free versions of apps and games that normally cost money to download and play (including unlimited, free in-app items).  Amazon Underground launched in August of 2015 for customers in the US, UK, Germany and France. Starting today, Amazon Underground is available in 16 additional countries and territories including Italy and Spain, opening up new and exciting opportunities for mobile developers to reach an even broader audience.

Amazon Underground customers will find  free versions of popular premium titles like Office Suite Professional 8 and Fruit Ninja and popular titles with in-app purchases like Frozen Free Fall, Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, and many more.   Any developer can submit their app, which means more apps and games will be added to Underground all the time.

Generate Revenue for Every Customer with Amazon Underground

Amazon Underground offers a new model of monetization to developers. All apps, including premium paid apps and freemium apps with in-app purchase that customers typically would have to pay for, are free for customers through Amazon Underground. As a developer, Amazon will pay you for every minute your Amazon Underground app is used by every customer in exchange for waiving your normal download or in-app fees. You can monetize 100% of your Android user base and maximize downloads, since everything is free for users of Amazon Underground apps. Many developers have seen increased downloads and reach via Amazon Underground.

Daniel Willms, Director Marketing & Sales at WetterOnline, makers of the Weather & Radar Pro app says:

"Amazon Underground’s new platform allows us to offer our premium weather app to an even larger number of users – ones we previously had been unable to reach,” said Daniel Willms, Director Marketing & Sales at WetterOnline. “We’ve seen success in a very short time and within just a few months we were able to increase the number of app downloads significantly."

Rovio – the developer of Angry Birds - has seen revenues from the Amazon Appstore triple since launching four games on the service:

“We included four of our popular titles in Amazon Underground at launch, aimed at reaching as many fans as possible in the Amazon ecosystem,” Rovio’s SVP of game business Tero Raji said. “In the first month since launch of these games, the Amazon Underground model has brought us up to three times more revenue compared to the same games’ user revenue in the Amazon Appstore previously.”

Similarly, Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja creators, Halfbrick, have seen revenues and game downloads double. Halfbrick’s CEO Shainiel Deo added:

“We’ve been thrilled with the performance of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja as part of the Amazon Underground program in the month since launch. Thus far we have doubled the downloads and revenue from our apps in the Amazon Appstore and most interestingly, customers are engaging with our in-app purchase content within our games at an extremely high rate. Since all in-app purchases are free in Amazon Underground, they can play the games in new and exciting ways.”

Create Great User Experiences

Amazon Underground allows you to build the apps and games you always wanted. Now you can focus less on monetizing and more on creating great user experiences that keep your customers engaged for long periods of time. The longer they play, the more revenue you will earn. Developers appreciate the opportunity to put their focus back on creating user experiences:

“It was easy for us to put our popular brain training app, NeuroNation in Amazon Underground. In the end, it was just a few lines of code to unlock everything,” said Rojahn Ahmadi, CEO and Founder at NeuroNation. “By building for Amazon Underground, developers will be able to focus on creating the most engaging product for customers, instead of having to focus on monetization.”

UsTwo – makers of the hit game Monument Valley – joined Amazon Underground at launch and waived their usual $3.99 download fee to have their game included in the Amazon Underground Catalog. The Executive Producer of Monument Valley Dan Gray added:

"It's always been our aim with Monument Valley to create a meaningful experience for all types of players. It's great that there's now a service in Amazon Underground that lets us reach millions of people that wouldn't usually pay for games, without compromising the game design or its principles."

Customers have also responded positively to Amazon Underground. Here are a few examples of what customers are saying about Amazon Underground apps and games:

Monument Valley

Jetpack Joyride

Getting Started on Amazon Underground Is Easy

Today’s launch enables Amazon Underground developers to reach even more customers worldwide. With this expansion, the Amazon Underground app is now available for download on Android phones and BlackBerry 10 devices, and is pre-loaded on the bestselling Fire tablet, Fire HD8, Fire HD10 and Fire Kids Edition tablets in a total of 20 countries and territories. Amazon Underground apps and games can also be accessed through the Amazon Appstore by customers using Fire HD and Fire HDX tablets in countries where Amazon Underground is available. Getting started with Amazon Underground is easy!

As a first step, check if your app is eligible for Amazon Underground and learn how to prepare it for submission on the Understanding Amazon Underground page on the Appstore developer portal. And if you’re not yet an Amazon Appstore registered developer, register for a free developer account  and submit your app to start making money from the first minute your app is used. To learn more check out these Amazon Underground resources. To discover more about monetizing with Underground, be sure to read Monetizing Your App with Amazon Underground!

Benvenuti & Bienvenidos to Amazon Underground!

- Mario