Amazon Clarifies Android App Store Terms, IGDA Says Concerns Remain

Amazon has clarified the contents of an Android App Store Developer Agreement that has drawn the ire of the IGDA board, though the group says the changes do not fully allay its concerns. Among the IGDA's problems with the Amazon Android App Store terms, which it outlined in a letter last week, was a provision that developers can not set a list price above the lowest price “available or previously available on any Similar Service." The group worried that this meant a temporary promotion on another app store would necessarily result in a permanent price reduction on Amazon. But Amazon clarified its position soon after, saying that the maximum list price limit only applied to current prices on competing app stores. The site claimed the confusion arose from discrepancies between available plain-text and PDF versions of the agreement. In a response today, the IGDA board acknowledged it was "pleased that Amazon has shown a willingness to clarify its distribution terms," but said it is still concerned the clarified terms prevent developers "from ever making an exclusive promotional deal with another marketplace." The IGDA also reiterated unaddressed concerns over Amazon's ability to pay developers only 20 percent of the current list price in some situations, and the store's ability to lower that list price unilaterally without developer notification. "We are not impressed with Amazon’s recent gesture, nor is this matter the result of a misunderstanding," the board wrote. "We believe that Amazon’s terms, as they currently stand, represent a threat to game developers."