Amazon Coins

Amazon CoinsYou can now use Amazon Coins, the online retailer’s virtual currency, to purchase apps, games, and in-app content on Android devices. Unsurprisingly, those purchases must all be made within Amazon’s standalone Appstore; Google Play is sticking with more traditional payment options. Amazon first unveiled Coins last year and gave every Kindle Fire owner $5 in an attempt to boost the currency out of the gate. Customers can also buy Coins at a discounted rate and automatically earn extra Coins when downloading apps or by hitting achievements in certain games. These measures are clearly meant to entice users, but we’ve seen little evidence that Coins are catching on. Nevertheless, and without offering any hard numbers, Amazon says it’s “been amazed by the number of customers using Coins, as well as how many Coins they’re spending on apps and games.”

Read the full story at The Verge.

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