Back in February, Amazon announced that Amazon Coins, its new virtual currency, would be coming to Kindle Fire devices in May. It’s May, and today, the company announced that the currency is now available.
Customers can now start using the currency in any app from the Amazon Appstore.
To celebrate, the company is giving away 500 free coins to all Kindle Fire customers in the U.S. This is the equivalent of $5. The coins are being automatically deposited in users’ accounts.
“Today we are giving Kindle Fire owners $5 worth of Coins to spend on new apps and games, or to purchase in-app items, such as recipes in iCookbook, song collections in SongPop or mighty falcon bundles in Angry Birds Star Wars. And with discounts of up to 10% when you buy Coins, this is a great way for customers to save money when they buy apps, games and in-app items,” said Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. “We will continue to add more ways to earn and spend Coins on a wider range of content and activities—today is Day One for Coins.”
Developers will continue to earn the standard 70% revenue share, and Amazon will continue to support real currency as well. Amazon is encouraging the use of Amazon Coins, however, by letting customers get discounts of up to 10%.