News

Amazon App Store To Offer Exclusive Angry Birds Title

• By Keith Ward
• March 16, 2011

In an effort to drive traffic to its imminent app store, Amazon.com will exclusively offer a spin-off version of one of the most popular mobile device games of all time -- Angry Birds.

The new iteration, called Angry Birds Rio, will debut in the very near future. Although creator Rovio didn't give a release date in its press release announcing the deal, it mentioned a recent tweet that it will hit the Amazon Appstore March 22. That would, of course, imply that the Appstore will launch no later than that date, although Amazon has yet to confirm a timetable.

Amazon could barely contain its glee at landing an exclusive deal for the iconic game. From the press release:

Amazon is thrilled to work with a leading developer like Rovio in offering our customers Angry Birds Rio for Android exclusively in the Amazon Appstore,” said Aaron Rubenson, category leader for Amazon Appstore. “We think Angry Birds Rio is sure to be an instant customer favorite.”

The publicity for the new game will ratchet up several more notches when a tie-in movie, Rio, is released on April 15. Rio was made by Twentieth Century Fox in conjunction with Rovio.

The timing could hardly be better for Amazon.com. Android recently shot into first place in the U.S. smartphone market, overtaking Research In Motion's BlackBerry, further demonstrating its huge, and rapidly growing, user base.

In addition to the exclusive release of the game, Amazon is also exclusively offering ad-free versions of the base game and the spin-off Angry Birds Seasons. Although Amazon didn't say so in the press release, the obvious assumption is that they will be paid versions of the app. By comparison, the ad-free version of Angry Birds for the iPhone is $.99.