Amazon Plans Android App Store to Compete With Google

A number of media outlets are reporting that Amazon.com (AMZN) will start its own Android app store, putting it into direct competition with Google (GOOG) to sell applications for the mobile operating system. The move would also help Amazon flank the Apple (AAPL) Apps Store which distributes software for the iPhone and iPad.

"According to an Amazon document for developers viewed by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon would take a 30% cut of app sales, with the developers keeping the rest. Apple and Google charge the same commission fee for their stores." Android developers only offer 80,000 applications to Apple's 250,000.

It is not clear yet why Amazon would take the step. The Wall Street Journal article speculates that the world's largest e-commerce site could use the relationships it has with millions of online shoppers to better market the apps. Amazon's online product line set-up also offers a way for people to find they applications they are looking for more easily as they are matched sections of the Amazon website.

Nonetheless, Amazon is unlikely to make a great deal of money on its apps store. Apple's huge online app shopping area brings in only modest revenue, according to many analysts who follow the company.

Amazon.com may simply have decided the app market is too important to the future of e-commerce to be left to rivals Google and Apple. That may not be a solid rationale by itself, but sometimes a good defense is the best offense.