Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) May Offer Paid Apps For Free, But With A Caveat

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is working on a new program that will give away paid apps and in-app purchases for free, but the program does have its caveats.

According to TechCrunch, it has obtained a leak detailing an Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) program tentatively named “Unlocked” which will give away some paid apps and in-app purchases for free to users.

“Introducing Amazon Unlocked for Apps & Games. Paid apps and in-app purchasing now completely FREE from Amazon,” a promotional spot on the leaked presentation says, according to TechCrunch.

It also appears that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) won’t be offering just games to people, it will also be offering other popular paid-apps as OfficeSuite 8 + PDF Converter is featured in the presentation alongside Sega America’s Sonic Dash and ustwo’s Monument Valley.

Essentially, either the web commerce giant will be making certain paid-apps free upfront, certain in-app purchases in free apps free, or certain in-app purchases in paid apps, purchased by users, free.

Under the program, the said freebies will be available to users under two schemes. The first is through a scheme that puts “Unlocked” front and center within the flagship Amazon app. Under this scheme, algorithms will be favored “rather than human touch” for app suggestions. Under the second scheme, users can opt to use a filter to search only “Unlocked” apps.

However, the whole “Unlocked” system has a caveat. According to TechCrunch, when developers leave the program, the freebies become paid again.

“This effectively means that developers who get nothing to begin with as the barrier to entry is lowered for new downloads, can hope to convert those users to paying customers when the wall comes back up,” the publication writes.

This makes the program enticing to developers, TechCrunch suggests, apart from being a way for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to increase activity on its app and app store. Who doesn’t like free stuff?

Eashwar Krishnan’s Tybourne Capital Management owned 447,925 Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares by the end of 2014.

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