Gaming is the dominant category in the Amazon Appstore

The Amazon Appstore is a nice alternative to the official Android Market. Some would argue that before the latest Android Market update, the Amazon App Store had a better design and was easier to navigate than the Android Market. Google probably wouldn’t admit it, but some aspects of the new Android Market has a design that’s very similar to Amazon’s. In the short period of time the Amazon Appstore has been around, Amazon has seen it grow to become a successful marketplace. Games have a lot to do with the store’s success.

In an interview with VentureBeat, the director for the Amazon Appstore Aaron Rubenson discussed the highlights of the service so far.

Of all the categories in the Amazon Appstore, games have been dominating.

“Games is our biggest category both from a selection standpoint and from a sales standpoint,” Rubenson said. “I think our sales are more or less tracking with what the industry sees.”

Rubenson also pointed out that Plants vs. Zombies is the “best performing game” in the Amazon App Store so far.

PvZ was once offered as part of the Amazon Appstore’s Free App of the Day promotion. Rubenson said promotions such as this are a good way to build up an app’s name. He explained how those who downloaded the app when it was free will tell their friends about it afterwards. That in turn makes more people purchase the app. Offering an app for free is really just a marketing tool.

It’s Amazon’s marketing muscle that makes the Amazon Appstore so appealing. Even though developers aren’t allowed to set the prices for their apps, Amazon believes its expertise in retail is enough to convince developers to give up that privilege. Amazon’s cross-promotions throughout all aspects of its store is also an advantage the Android Market doesn’t have.

There are currently more than 14,000 apps in the Amazon Appstore. that number is bound to increase exponentially over time.

Via [VentureBeat]