Tag Archives: DevOps

In today’s post, I will quickly walk you through the value of Fire TV, how you can create a free Amazon Developer account, and basic steps to publishing your first app on Fire TV.

Why Fire TV?
Customers are continuing to enjoy streaming media, and Fire TV is the #1 selling streaming media player in the US, UK, Germany, India, and Japan. Fire TV has over 40 million active users globally that can watch a variety of movies and TV episodes with access to tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills. Fire TV devices are available in over 100 countries, and customers continue to benefit from a growing Fire TV lineup. We continue to listen to and focus on developers, building the tools and features they need to better serve customers. Fire TV devices are always getting smarter with new Alexa skills, feature improvements, and over-the-air software updates supported by Amazon. Check out our Fire TV overview page to learn more about developing apps and games.
 

How can you benefit as an Amazon Appstore Developer?
By publishing your app on Fire TV you can reach new audiences and millions of Amazon customers. Also, registering for a developer account is free.

Here’s how you can publish your first app on Fire TV

1. Create an Amazon Developer account – Before you can publish an app you’ll need to create a developer account.
2. Start developing your app – Once your developer account is setup you can jump right in to creating your first app.
3. User experience guidelines – Take a look at our guidelines for creating a great experience for customers.
4. Prepare your app to publish – Here’s a useful pre-submission checklist to make sure that your app meets all of the Amazon Appstore requirements before publishing.
5. Test Your App – Here’s a sandbox environment for testing your app before submitting it to production.
6. Publish your app on Fire TV – You’ve made it to the final stage and are almost ready to publish your app.

Watch a 16 minute video on how to increase discoverability for your content and apps with Amazon Fire TV.

We hope the steps above are helpful in assisting you with developing and publishing your app. For additional information on integrating Fire TV features, check out these other tools and services we have to offer:

• In-app purchasing (IAP) overview
• How to voice-enable your app
• How to integrate your content catalog with Amazon
• Fire TV assets guidelines

Thank You,
The Amazon Appstore Team

The Gymondo home workouts app combines personalized workout programs and healthy recipes based on your dietary needs to support your wellness goals. We sat down with the developer to learn more about why it was important to them to publish it on Amazon Fire TV.

Why have you initially decided to bring the Gymondo app to Fire TV?

When we launched Gymondo on Fire TV in 2016, we noticed few apps at the time that provided a well-rounded fitness service to customers. We saw an opportunity to fill that gap. Fire TV had started to become very popular in Germany and we observed a lot of product visibility and awareness rising in the market. We also acknowledged from our own research that customers were demanding more workout options on TV, and that they perceive TV as the most convenient device to consume online fitness content. That naturally lent itself to the opportunity of leveraging Fire TV in our distribution strategy, and also offered a valuable opportunity to offer another avenue for existing customers to access our content, and to acquire new users.

What are some of the key successes you have observed since launching the app on Fire TV?

There have been a number of success stories on Fire TV since launching our app. Some of the most noteworthy ones we would like to highlight:

• Number of users opening the app have quadrupled (Q1 2019 vs. Q1 2020).
• Significant increase in overall download numbers/customer base.
• 20% increase in number of 5star ratings (May 2020).
• Number of new registrations increased by 50% YOY (2018 vs. 2019), transforming strategy from retention to acquisition.
• Through Fire TV we were able to increase our international footprint in new international markets outside of Germany which include: Great Britain, USA, Canada Australia, Spain, France and Italy. 

What makes your app unique in driving value for Fire TV customers?

We provide a native application that is designed to be used on TV, and it respects the UI and UX guidelines in order to offer a rich and seamless user experience. In addition the app is providing a highly personalized fitness experience in all stages of the user journey; from onboarding, surfacing recommendations, to creating a customized fitness profile. 

Particularly during the current time, with more people spending time indoors, we are pleased that that our content offered people an efficient and easy to access work out experience at home and that customers are able to explore new and exciting fitness routines for themselves and their family members. 

What is unique about Amazon Fire TV customers that you don’t see on other streaming devices?

Fire TV customers have high expectations and demand a premium, high quality app. We love that Fire TV users continuously push us to improve and innovate our services and features. With the support and guidance from the Fire TV team we value that there is an aligned vision to offer a very customer centric product that keeps delighting customers over and over again.

Which Fire TV engagement drivers / features have you implemented, or are you currently working on? And why?

We have integrated the In-App Purchasing (IAP) Amazon API that allows our app to present, process, and fulfill purchases of digital content and subscriptions within the Gymondo app. It has made our subscription management and conversion easier to our users, and overall allows for a smoother payment flow. In the past, we benefited from the release of a trial period. For the future, we are looking into implementing strike-through pricing.

We also use the Recommended By Your Apps Row, so it represents an opportunity for us to push content (not intrusive) and make it visible to any user who has the app installed on the home screen of the Fire TV device. This helps us to acquire and engage more users that did not register or convert by displaying free content regularly (recipes, workout of the day etc). It also allows engaged users to perform quick actions (e.g. play the next workout).

Getting started with Amazon Appstore

Amazon offers several tools and documents to get you started. You can test your existing APK within minutes to help you understand potentially required adaptations (if any). The Developer Portal also offers a variety of extensive documents to help you implement Amazon specific services, such as Reccomendations By Your Apps row or the In-App Purchasing API.

Your app can send recommendations to users about the content (movies, shows, music, games) that you want them to watch. Recommendations appear on a “Recommended By Your Apps” row on the Amazon Fire TV home screen.

Recommendations encourage users to engage with your app. By appearing on the Amazon Fire TV home screen, recommendations are visible within the user’s regular view. The recommendation cards entice users back into your app with minimal effort.

In this quick overview video, Developer Evangelist Liam Sorta will explain how to build content recommendations on Amazon Fire TV.

For a step by step guide for the integration process as well as some code samples to use in your own projects signup to access the integration handbook.

For more information about “Recommended By Your App” visit the Amazon Developer Portal.
 

The German Government is temporarily reducing value added tax (VAT) from July 1^st until December 31^st this year. The German tax rates will change from 19% to 16% (regular VAT rate) and from 7% to 5% (reduced VAT rate). It is the aim of the German Government that retailers pass on the reduction to customers through lowered prices.

While this is not a required action for your published apps on the Amazon Appstore, you may choose to update the List Price of your apps and in-app purchasable items sold in Germany for the duration of the VAT reduction.

Before you apply any changes to the List Price for your apps and n-app purchasable items sold in Germany, please take note of the following:

• Changing the List Price for the “Amazon.de” Marketplace will also impact the calculation of Royalties for apps sold in Austria (AT), where at the moment there is no VAT reduction.
• If you plan to update the List Price for a subscription, please make sure to carefully read the documentation on how to Update Subscription Price on the Amazon Appstore Developer Portal. The system behavior for a given subscriber depends on the price that the subscriber is currently paying.

If you would like to lower the list price for your apps, you can follow the steps below on the Amazon Developer Console:

• Go to “App List” and select the app where you would like to lower the list price
• For Paid Apps, go to “Availability and Pricing” and edit pricing for the “Amazon.de” marketplace
• For editing In-App Items, go to the “In-App Items” tab. For each In-App Item, edit the list pricing for the “Amazon.de” marketplace.

If you have any additional questions, please contact Amazon Appstore Developer Support.

Amazon Appstore Team

We’re excited to announce the next generation (2020) Toshiba 4K UHD and Insignia 4K UHD Fire TV Edition smart TVs, available in the United States and Canada. Both TVs have the Fire TV experience built-in, a wide selection of screen sizes, and a newly designed Voice Remote with Amazon Alexa. Available now exclusively at Best Buy retail stores, BestBuy.com, and Amazon.com.

Fire TV Keeps Getting Better

Reach new customers every day as the Fire TV device portfolio continues to expand providing more device options to satisfy the needs of customers. Today, Fire TV has over 40M+ active users that can watch over 500,000 streaming movies and TV episodes with access to tens of thousands of channels, apps, and Alexa skills. Fire TV devices is always getting smarter with new Alexa skills, feature improvements, and automatic over-the-air software updates supported by Amazon.

New Remote

The new Voice Remote with Alexa makes it easy to browse and discover new content—customers can use voice commands to watch live TV, search for titles, play music, switch inputs, control compatible smart home devices, and more. The new remote comes with the addition of up/down channel buttons, a Settings button, and a Recents button enabling a customer to quickly go back to recently watched content. Voice control is getting smarter all the time – you can voice-enable your app and content to help customers quickly find and launch your media.

Specifications

The Toshiba and Insignia smart TVs deliver a true-to-life 4K Ultra HD picture quality with over 8 million pixels for stunning clarity, deep contrast, and vivid colors with ultra-smooth streaming of HD/4K UHD video at up to 60 fps. Screen sizes range from 43-inches to 65-inches, with the higher end Toshiba model supporting DTS Virtual-X surround sound not seen in prior models.

Built for speed and performance, the TVs are powered by a quad-core CPU/Multi-core GPU for instant search results and fast and fluid responsiveness. Integrate your media catalog with Fire TV so your content can be included in universal browse and search results. The TVs connect easily with dual-band Wi-Fi and feature three HDMI inputs, and multiple input/output options. All models are running Fire OS 7, based on Android 9.

Check out our technical documentation page to learn more about the new specs and features included.

Other helpful resources:

Fire TV Overview
Register for a free Amazon Developer account
Submit your app

（※注: 本記事はこちらの投稿を日本語に翻訳したものです）

Amazonは、家族全員の好みに合わせて選べる次世代「Fire HD 8タブレット」3機種を発表しました。処理速度がさらに向上し、日々のストリーミング再生をより快適に行えるラインナップとなっています。

Amazonデバイス担当バイスプレジデントのケビン・キース（Kevin Keith）は、次のように述べています。「新世代のFire HD 8タブレットは、魅力あるコンテンツの提供に加えて、大容量のストレージや長時間持続するバッテリーを採用するなど、家族みんながそれぞれのニーズに合わせて選べるよう開発したタブレットです。また、お求めになりやすい価格設定も大きな魅力です。」

新世代のFire HD 8は、明るくなった8インチHDディスプレイ、容量が2倍になったストレージ（32GBまたは64GB、microSDカードにより最大1TBまで拡張可能）、2GBのRAMを搭載。新しい2.0GHzのクアッドコアプロセッサにより、前世代機と比べて最大30%の高速化を実現しています。簡単に充電ができるUSB-Cが採用され、バッテリー持続時間は最大12時間。映画やTV番組、音楽、電子書籍、雑誌、ゲーム、知育・エンターテインメント系アプリなどを始めとした、数千万のコンテンツをお楽しみいただけます。価格は9,980円（税込）から。

Fire HD 8 Plusは、Fire HD 8の性能をさらに向上させたデバイスです。3GBのRAMを搭載し、スムーズなワイヤレス充電や付属の9W充電アダプターによる高速充電に対応。さらに今なら期間限定で、Kindle Unlimitedを2か月間無料でご利用いただけるクーポンが提供されます。価格は11,980円（税込）から。

新世代のFire HD 8キッズモデルには、タブレット本体に加え、児童書やビデオ、知育アプリ、ゲームなど数千ものキッズ向けコンテンツを1年間使い放題で楽しめる「Amazon FreeTime Unlimited」や、2年間の限定保証が含まれます。角度調整可能なスタンドが付いたキッズモデル専用の保護カバーも付属。価格は14,980円（税込）です。

新世代Fire HD 8の発売は6月3日を予定しています。Fire OS 7（Android Pベース）を搭載したFire HD 8の仕様については、テクニカルドキュメントをご覧ください。

新しいFire HD 8の詳細に関しては、以下のリソースもご用意しております。

· Fireタブレット向けFire OS 7

· Fire TV向けFire OS 7

· Fireタブレット向けの開発について

· Amazon開発者アカウントの登録（無料）

· アプリの申請

Today, we are excited to announce the next generation of our Fire HD 8 tablet lineup, designed with the entire family in mind. “The new Fire HD 8 tablets offer the features that everyone in the family wants – great content, more storage, longer battery life – at a price that is incredibly affordable,” said Kevin Keith, Vice President, Amazon Devices. With today’s news, customers can enjoy a faster performing Fire HD 8 lineup with an improved experience to handle daily streaming needs.

Below are the new Fire HD 8 devices announced today:

The all-new Fire HD 8 comes with an 8” HD display, 30% faster performance with 2GB RAM, 2x the storage (32 or 64 GB of internal storage and up to 1TB with microSD card), up to 12 hours of battery life, easier charging with USB-C, and access to millions of movies, TV shows, songs, eBooks, magazines, games, and educational and entertainment apps – only $89.99.

Introducing Fire HD 8 Plus, an enhanced Fire HD 8 experience with 3GB of RAM, hassle-free wireless charging, a 9W in-box USB-C charger for faster charging, and, for a limited time, six months of Kindle Unlimited included – only $109.99.

The all-new Fire HD 8 Kids Edition includes the Fire HD 8 tablet, one year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited with access to over 20,000 kid-friendly books, Audible books, videos, educational apps and games, a Kid-Proof Case with an adjustable stand, and a two-year worry-free guarantee – only $139.99.

The all-new Fire HD 8 is available for pre-order today and device shipments begin June 3. The Fire HD 8 runs on Amazon’s Fire OS 7 (based on Android P). Check out our technical documentation to learn more about the specs.

For more information on the new Fire HD 8, see the following resources:

· Fire OS 7 for Fire Tablets

· Fire OS 7 for Fire TV

· Learn more about developing for Fire tablet

· Register for a free Amazon Developer account

· Submit your app

The Alexa Prize SocialBot Grand Challenge is now in its third year.  And for a third time participating student teams have made exciting advances in the state-of-the-art of conversational AI.  With gratitude for the efforts of all the teams this year, I am delighted to announce the five teams that are advancing to the Alexa Prize Finals.

The three socialbots with the highest average customer ratings during the semifinal period have automatically advanced: Alquist from the Czech Technical University in Prague, Emora from Emory University, and Gunrock from the University of California, Davis. We also advanced two wildcard teams this year based on evaluation criteria that included ratings from Alexa customers, depth and breadth of topics covered, appropriateness and accuracy of responses, and scientific merit as determined by the content of their technical papers: Chirpy Cardinal from Stanford University and Athena from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In July 2019, ten university teams were selected from applications submitted by labs around the world to compete for the Alexa Prize. Since then, teams have been working tirelessly to delight customers with engaging and coherent conversations on a variety of popular topics. Now, the advancing five teams will compete for the Grand Prize.  If they have a composite score of 4.0 or higher, and at least two-thirds of their Socialbot’s conversations with interactors last for 20 minutes, they will win a $1 million research grant for their University.

Congratulations to Alquist, Athena, Chirpy Cardinal, Emora, and Gunrock!

On behalf of the entire Amazon Alexa organization, I want to thank all of the Alexa Prize teams for their creativity, passion, and contributions to both AI science and to delighting Alexa customers. We will be publishing the teams’ technical papers in a special-edition Alexa Prize Journal later this summer, enabling all teams to share their innovative ideas with the scientific community.

In the meantime, please continue to support our finalists by chatting with their socialbots, it’s as easy as saying “Alexa, let’s chat” to your Alexa-enabled device. You can also follow #AlexaPrize on Twitter and bookmark our website for further updates.

This past September, 10 university teams, from schools around the world, officially began their journey with the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 3. Teams spent part of their summer attending an intensive boot camp to learn what it means to be customer obsessed and how to integrate their ideas into the Alexa Prize infrastructure. Now ready to compete, teams have built an AI (called a socialbot), at scale, capable of conversing coherently and engagingly with humans for 20 minutes. Their socialbots should be able to discuss popular topics and news events such as entertainment, fashion, politics, sports, and technology.

Even as innovators create AI that can drive cars, play board games, and diagnose diseases, the seemingly intuitive task of everyday social conversation remains an elusive goal. Undaunted, the student teams have geared up to tackle the challenge. As they build their socialbots, they will encounter esoteric problems like context modeling and dialog planning as well as exoteric problems like user experience and conversational engagement. The Alexa Prize provides a unique opportunity for industry and academia to come together to address these challenges.

We invite you to join the students on their journey and help them along the way. You can interact with their socialbots simply by saying, “Alexa, let’s chat” on any Alexa-enabled device in the US-English marketplace. You will be connected to one of the 10 socialbots at random. Chat about your favorite topics, say “Stop” when you are done, and share your feedback.

It is still early days in this pioneering journey, and we know the teams will appreciate your help and patience as they learn, iterate, and build new interactive conversational experiences. The socialbots will improve quickly based on your use and feedback. We hope you’ll enjoy interacting with them.

The student teams are working hard, having fun, and well on their way to making history. We look forward to having you join the Alexa Prize community to support them along the way.

Follow the #AlexaPrize hashtag and bookmark our site for updates.

Amazon.FallbackIntentが日本、フランス、イタリア、スペインで使用可能となりました。さらに、AMAZON.PhoneNumber（ベータ）とAMAZON.Ordinal（ベータ）のビルトインスロットタイプも合わせて使用可能となりました。

Alexaスキルの開発者であれば、スキルのインテントに幅広いバリエーションのサンプル発話を含めることで、発話のハンドリング精度が向上することはご存知だと思います。（さらに詳しい情報については、こちらのドキュメントをご参照ください)

しかし、インタラクションモデルがどれほど堅牢であっても、スキルのインテントとまったく一致しない発話を受け取ることがあります。 これらの種類のリクエスト（ドメイン外リクエスト）が意図していないインテントにマッピングされると、予期しない応答が発生する可能性があります。このような問題を解決するために、Alexa Skills Kit は昨年、AMAZON.FallbackIntent を英語ロケールとドイツ語のビルトインライブラリーに追加しました。

スキルのインタラクションモデルに FallbackIntent を追加すると、スキルの開発者とユーザーの両方にメリットをもたらします。 スキルユーザーに対しては、FallbackIntent がドメイン外リクエストを適切にルーティングすることで、より関連性の高い応答が提供されるようになります。 通常これは、ユーザーのリクエストがスキルでは対応できないものであることをユーザーに知らせ、スキルの機能に戻るためのガイダンスを提供するプロンプトとなります。

スキル開発者の場合、インテントリクエスト履歴 APIを使用することで、FallbackIntent カテゴリ内に表示されるドメイン外リクエストを分析することができます。これにより、スキルに期待されている発話や機能を判断し、必要に応じてドメイン外モデルを微調整することが可能となります。

以下は、AMAZON.FallbackIntentがどのように機能するかを示す例です。

ユーザー： アレクサ、トリッププランを開いて
Alexa： 旅行を計画しましょう。目的地はどこですか？

ユーザー： 札幌の天気を教えて （この発話は、トリッププランのどのインテントとも一致しません）
Alexaはこの発話をインテントにマッピングできる確率が低いと判断したため、スキルにAMAZON.FallbackIntentを送信します。

Alexa： トリッププランスキルではその質問にはお答えできませんが、フライトを調べたり、旅行の計画の手伝いをしたりすることはできます。どこに行きますか？ （応答にスキルの名前を含めて、ユーザーを正しくガイドします）

AMAZON.FallbackIntentはどのように機能しますか？

AMAZON.FallbackIntentがスキルに追加されると、Alexaの機械学習を使用してスキルの既存のインテントとサンプル発話を自動的に評価し、そのスキルに固有のドメイン外モデルを作成します。 AMAZON.FallbackIntentは、サンプル発話を追加し、拡張することもできます。これにより、開発者は必要に応じてドメイン外モデルを微調整できます。 Alexaがある発話をカスタムインテントのいずれかにマッピングできる確率が高いと判断すると、そのインテントが選択されます。一方、発話がスキルのドメイン外（スキルでは意味をなさない）である確率が高いと判断すると、AlexaはAMAZON.FallbackIntentを選択します。すべてのインテントに対して信頼度が非常に低い場合（音声が不明瞭な場合や雑音が入った場合など）は、かわりに再プロンプトが出される可能性があります。その後、スキルバックエンドは AMAZON.FallbackIntent リクエストを受け取り、適切な指示やガイダンスで応答することができます。

AMAZON.FallbackIntent のドメイン外モデルは、スキルのモデルと、既存のサンプルデータのテンプレートから自動的に生成されます。 ドメイン外モデルはモデルのビルドごとに再生成され、他のインテントへの変更を自動的に組み込みます。（インタラクションモデルの改善に応じて自動的に更新されます。）

AMAZON.FallbackIntentをスキルに追加する方法

Alexa 開発者コンソール上でAMAZON.FallbackIntentを追加し、インタラクションモデルを更新します。

その後、対応するIntent handler をスキルバックエンドに追加します。

他のビルトインインテントと同様に、バックエンドにハンドラを実装する必要があります。 通常これは、ユーザーのリクエストがスキルでは対応できないものであることをユーザーに知らせ、そのスキルの機能に戻るためのガイダンスを提供するプロンプトとなります。また、プロンプトでは、自分がどのスキルと対話しているのかをユーザーが再度認識できるようにする必要があります。以下は ASK SDK for Node.jsを使用したサンプルです。

さらに詳しい情報については、こちらのテクニカルドキュメントを参照してください。

AMAZON.PhoneNumber (ベータ) AMAZON.Ordinal (ベータ) が利用可能になりました

ビルトインスロットタイプを使用して電話番号と序数値をキャプチャする機能が、すべてのロケールに拡張されました。

AMAZON.PhoneNumber (ベータ) は、電話番号を表す数字または単語を句読点なしの文字列形式に変換し、国際電話番号、国番号、および地域の電話番号形式をサポートします。

AMAZON.Ordinal (ベータ) は、序数を表す単語を数字に変換します (例：「三番目」から 3)。音声による要素の選択など、複数のユースケースで役立ちます。 これにより、ユーザーはデバイス画面上のビジュアルコンポーネントをよりシームレスに操作できます。 たとえば、Ordinalインテントは、リスト選択をサポートすることができます（例：「二番目のアイテムを選択する」、「四番目のアイテムを選択する」）

関連コンテンツ

• AMAZON.FallbackIntent テクニカルドキュメント
• AMAZON.FallbackIntentとインテントリクエスト履歴
• スロットタイプリファレンス
• Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)
• Alexa 開発者フォーラム

Kixi is a German-language video on demand app designed to offer educationally valuable content for children and families.

We talked to Sascha Stradtmann, head of acquisitions and programming at Kixi, to learn more about Kixi’s service and their reasons for publishing it on Amazon Fire tablets and Amazon Fire TV.

Please tell us more about Kixi and your service.

“Kixi was originally founded under the brand-name Kinderkino in 2011 at a time when video on demand (VoD) was far from mainstream in Germany. Ever since then, Kixi started offering educationally valuable movies, series, cartoons, instructive films and documentaries for children and families. Our licensors are small independent production companies as well as major studios. We offer our partners a turn-key solution for the publishing of their content on our platforms. Kixi is a convenient way for our partners to monetize their content in an economic and efficient way. We use the newest state-of-the-art technology for encoding and content management, so we are able to achieve a lot with a surprisingly small team.

“In addition to the Kixi apps for Fire TV and Fire tablet, we also have an app for our owned and operated VoD platform.”

Why did you choose to publish your app Kixi on the Amazon Appstore and for Fire tablets and Fire TV?

“Amazon offers customers various ways to watch their favorite content – whether at home or on the go. So for us, it’s been a no-brainer to develop for the Amazon Appstore.”

Why did you choose to implement the in-app purchasing API?

“By implementing the in-app purchasing API, we did not have to code a payment service or back-end by ourselves. Instead, we were able to use a reliable ready-made solution.”

How do Amazon customers fit into your target group? What is the value of Amazon customers compared to other audiences?

“With the Amazon Appstore, we reach a wide set of customers and users can choose from a rich app catalog, including a great selection for family and kids. Therefore, the Amazon Appstore is the perfect place for us to engage with our target audience.

How do you optimize the app and content for families?

“We optimize our content strategy two ways: First, which individual title is watched the most and which the least. We try to match the respective successful genre or content type when acquiring new content. Second, we align our content release to days and dates on which VoD is consumed the most.”

How does your app perform on Amazon Appstore?

“Our apps for Fire TV and Fire tablets perform very well! In fact, the Amazon Appstore currently generates the most turnover and revenue for Kixi.” 

What is your experience developing and publishing your app for Amazon devices?  

“It was pretty straightforward. Amazon offers a good environment and framework for developers. Our tips for other developers: Just go for it!”

Getting started with Amazon Appstore

Amazon offers several tools and documents to get you started. You can test your existing APK within minutes to help you understand potentially required adaptations (if any). The Developer Portal also offers a variety of extensive documents to help you implement Amazon specific services, such as Login with Amazon, Amazon Device Messaging or the In-App Purchasing API.

We sat down with eOne to hear more about what drives their kids and family success on Amazon Fire tablets, and what they learned along the way about Amazon Appstore customers.

Entertainment One’s (eOne) ‘Family & Brands’ division creates kid’s content that connects with families around the world by carefully selecting, crafting, and nurturing the best children’s content into global brands.

Why did you initially choose to launch your apps and games on Amazon Appstore?

“Our digital services are an extension of our content and key to engaging with our brands’ fanbase, so it’s important for us to give our brands maximum visibility by making our apps available to as many children and families as possible. Amazon Fire tablets have been growing in popularity, especially in the kids’ space, and with part of our portfolio already available on Amazon Video, having our apps on the Amazon Appstore only seemed like a natural progression.”

What makes Amazon Appstore a valuable store for eOne’s apps?

“We are fortunate that our brands have huge recognition with Amazon consumers, but it’s also important for us to guarantee a good user experience. That’s why we really value their presence on the Amazon Appstore. The easy access to kids content made available by the Appstore family tab on Fire tablets ¹ makes it a very attractive store for our brands. The high level of content curation and commitment to offering a rich and versatile app catalogue for family and kids makes Amazon Appstore a great store for us to engage with our target audience.”

Is there a specific audience behaviour that is unique to Amazon Appstore?

“We have noticed that Amazon Appstore is the store on which our premium apps perform best. This suggests that Amazon consumers value the peace of mind brought by an upfront payment with no further transactions nor advertising.”

What is your approach and vision for content innovation and content breadth?

“Nowadays, consumers expect to have access to content anywhere, at any time and their appetite for it never stops growing. eOne quickly innovated in this area at a time when mobile devices were on the rise to give fans a wealth of high-quality digital content they could enjoy on-the-go or at home. Our digital content strategy has evolved and expanded over the years to include a broad portfolio of free and premium apps, as well as our subscription app, World of Peppa Pig. A lot of parents don’t want to spend hours on the Appstore looking for new content for their children. This app gives families a rich experience that combines games, educational play, videos and creative activities under one roof in a format that is regularly updated. Our apps are directly inspired by the themes, narratives and characters from our shows and feature the original sounds and music that the fans will recognise, and we think that makes our collection of apps truly engaging for our audience.”

How do you determine which monetisation model is appropriate for your apps and games?

“We always strive to make the best content available to as many children and families as possible and provide them a wide a range of options. The main challenge for any children’s app developer is adapting to the ever-changing needs and behaviours of our audiences across the world. By offering different apps models, whether it is free-to-download, subscription or premium apps, we want to make sure that all families can engage with our content in the way that works best for them.

“In our experience, Amazon Appstore customers have favoured the premium model for the peace of mind it gives parents and the great user experience it offers children. That is truly remarkable in an area that has been generally shifting towards free-to-download apps over the years.

“We are also seeing a very positive response to our subscription app World of Peppa Pig. There is clearly a demand for an app that is regularly updated with new content and combines lots of games, videos, episodes on-the-go, and activities under one safe umbrella. “

How do you leverage marketing opportunities with Amazon Appstore?

“To support the adoption of our subscription app World of Peppa Pig, we ran a discount exclusively for Amazon Appstore customers on our yearly subscription plan for the two weeks following Prime Day. The unique nature of the offer allowed us to obtain support from the Amazon Appstore team, which was incredibly helpful to give the app visibility over the promotion period. We promoted the offer on owned channels, the Amazon Appstore storefront and inside the app which generated a 123% increase on installs across Amazon devices.

“The best timing to run campaigns is when people purchase new Amazon devices, as they naturally look for content to download. The days immediately following key device activation dates like Black Friday, the holidays, and Prime Day are perfect opportunities for us to bring our apps to new Amazon device owners’ attention. That’s why we focus most of our marketing efforts after such dates and try to combine it with the release of discounts and new content.”

¹ Available for Appstore customers in US, DE and UK.

Getting started with Amazon Appstore 

Amazon offers several tools and documents to get you started. You can test your existing APK within minutes to help you understand potentially required adaptations (if any). The Developer Portal also offers a variety of extensive documents to help you implement Amazon specific services, such as Login with Amazon, Amazon Device Messaging or the In-App Purchasing API.