People have mixed feelings about this question although there are two sides to this argument. We have heard the argument that the Amazon App store is bad for developers because of the free app a day giveaway. While this is a great way for consumers to get apps that they may not otherwise have even known about does it hurt the developers?
Well the Free App A Day doesn’t make the developer a dime as some of you may think otherwise. This is bad for developers for that day although in the long run should not (assuming the app is worthy of use) effect any sales of it later.
There are those out there that think the giveaway is wrong only for the fact that the developers don’t make any money and Amazon is receiving serious traffic and upselling from it. Shift Jelly posted the following about the Amazon App Store:
“What makes us mad though is the public perception that Amazon pays developers to be featured. Every single person we asked on Twitter or via email thought they were helping developers out, and getting a free application. Amazon does nothing to dispel these rumours, in fact they put really restrictive clauses at the bottom of their emails, saying that no one is even allowed to discuss these back door deals they are doing.”
Our take on this is that most of the free app a day giveaways are apps that consumers are downloading only because they are free. Those that are downloading the app because its free and no other reason would not have purchased the app anyway. This being said the Developer is now getting free publicity and users that may in the future recommend an app to a friend that otherwise would have never even thought about it. If developers create a great app the word of mouth after the free day will make up for any consumer downloading it that may have paid for it later.