Amazon today introduced all-new Fire tablets, including a new 7” tablet that sets an entirely new standard for a tablet under $50. The new Fire tablets are designed from the ground up for entertainment with a 7”, 8” or 10” display, an incredibly thin and light design, quad-core processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, and up to 128GB of expandable storage. The all-new Fire tablets also introduce Fire OS 5 “Bellini”, which brings the best entertainment experience on any tablet, with an updated user interface, deep integration of Amazon-exclusive services, and hundreds of new and upgraded features and platform updates. Key upgrades and enhancements include:

Fire OS 5 “Bellini”

The all-new Fire tablets are powered by the newest version of Fire OS—Fire OS 5 “Bellini”—which introduces hundreds of new and updated features. Fire OS starts with Android Lollipop, and improves upon it by deeply integrating Amazon’s hardware, platform, software, content, and cloud. For developers, if an app runs on Android, it can run on Fire OS with little to no work. 85% of Android apps submitted to the Amazon Appstore just work.  

The Best Entertainment Experience on Tablet

Fire OS 5 “Bellini” introduces an updated user interface that provides the best entertainment experience on a tablet, making it easy to access your favorite apps or discover new content. The new home screen includes dedicated content pages for books, games and apps, video, music, audiobooks, and periodicals—each page presents an engaging layout akin to the beautiful pages of a magazine and presents your recent content as well as personalized suggestions for new entertainment. If you subscribe to services like Prime, Kindle Unlimited, or Audible, you can easily discover new content that you can access at no additional cost.

Free month of Amazon Prime

Amazon continues to invest in bringing Prime members new movies, TV shows, songs, and books to enjoy at no additional cost. Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Video, and unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive. Eligible customers can get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime when they purchase a new tablet.

Amazon Underground—With Apps That Are Actually Free

Many apps and games that are marked as “free” turn out not to be completely free. They use in-app payments to charge you for special items or to unlock features or levels. Fire tablet owners have access to a one-of-a-kind app store experience where over $10,000 in apps, games, and even in-app items are actually free.

Our new tablets ship with Fire OS 5, with features coming to the 4^th generation Fire tablets (released in 2014) as part of free, over-the-air Fire OS updates later this year.

Turn 100% of Your Fire Tablet Users into Revenue-Generating Customers

In most app store models, developers are paid a revenue share based on the initial purchase of the app or the in-app purchases. With Amazon Underground’s innovative monetization approach, Amazon pays you for every minute a customer uses your Amazon Underground app ($0.002/minute at launch), and customers pay nothing. There is no more guesswork around getting IAP optimized for the 2%-10% of customers that reportedly buy them. You can now focus on creating great content, storylines and characters that keep customers coming back. It’s all about increasing customer engagement.

We’ve made this possible by working out a new business model for developers - we’ll pay you on a per-minute-played basis in exchange for you waiving your normal download or in-app fees.  This means, you can turn 100% of your Android users into revenue-generating customers, so from the minute your customers start playing, you start getting paid for each minute they use your Amazon Underground app. It’s a win for both customers and developers.

Most Android Apps Just Work with Fire OS 5

Fire tablets run Fire OS, which is based on Android Lollipop. This means that it is incredibly easy to bring your Android APK to Amazon devices. 85% of Android apps submitted to the Amazon Appstore just work. You can publish your apps to the Amazon Appstore with little or no effort and expand your potential audience by millions.

Use our free App Testing Service to check the compatibility of your existing Android app in as little as 90 seconds. It will identify potential issues and explain how to resolve them, and then make submitting your app a breeze.

Your Apps & Games on More Devices

The Amazon Appstore is preloaded on Fire devices, Blackberry 10 and millions of other Android devices, including certain HTC, LG, Motorola, and Samsung phones to name a few, as well as certain Samsung and LG tablets. Fire tablets expand that reach even further - just in time for the holiday season. App purchases typically surge by 50% Thanksgiving week, and 400% during digital week. And when customers unbox their new Fire tablet, what’s the first thing they do?  Start downloading apps and games of course! Now is the time to develop a new app or bring your existing Android app to Fire tablets.

Amazon Reaches the (Big) Spenders Best

According to Newzoo, gamers using the Amazon Appstore are the most likely to spend money.  More specifically, 64% of mobile gamers that use the Amazon Appstore spend money on mobile games, versus 37% for Google Play. CEO of Newzoo Peter Warman says:

“Game developers should consider shifting marketing resources towards the Amazon Appstore for two reasons: gamers using the Amazon Appstore are the most likely to spend money and Amazon is best at reaching the big spender, which is typically a family man with a full-time job.”

Fire tablets help developers connect with new customer segments that may be difficult to find on other platforms. Click here to learn more.

Ready to Submit Your App or Game?

For more information about getting started with Amazon Fire tablets, or how to submit your game check out the following additional resources:

• Purchase Fire tablets
• Get the Fire OS 5 Developer Preview
• Learn more about the Amazon Appstore
• Click here to submit your app
• Register for free as an Amazon Developer
• Amazon App Testing Service

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