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So 'when' is pretty certain. The more interesting question is 'how'. In a perfect world where everyone plays nice with each other, Amazon could deliver it's store as an app in the official Android Market. That scenario is extremely unlikely given Google's policy on apps that sell apps. (Remember the Kongregate kerfuffle?) So how will people get the Amazon App Store app on their handsets?
There's a precedent here: GetJar, which is another alternate app store for Android. You (initially at least) use GetJar from it's website. When you find an app you want, you enter your cellphone number into a form and a few minutes later you get a text with a link in it. Follow that link to download and install your app. You can just stick with that system or you can use this system to download a GetJar app which will make the process a bit more like the typical 'browse and tap' service you find in the Android Market.
GetJar has this problem with AT&T as well, and they eventually got AT&T to put the GetJar App on the AT&T AppCenter. Has Amazon negotiated a similar deal? It's worth noting that GetJar only offers free apps, while Amazon of course is going to be selling apps. That might make getting AT&T to play nice a thorny issue.
I'm not sure I really understand why we need an Amazon App Store, but I'm very interested to see how Amazon handles getting apps onto Joe and Jane Consumer's Android handset without confusing them. Ideas? Please leave a comment!
Peter Smith writes about personal technology for ITworld. Follow him on Twitter @pasmith.
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This story, "How Will Amazon Roll Out Its App Store on Tuesday?" was originally published by ITworld.