The Amazon Underground App Store was a bold experiment that was launched in 2015. The main premise was to offer paid apps for free and Amazon would pay developers depending on the amount of time that users were engaged. The money Amazon would pay app development companies stemmed from banner and video advertisements. Amazon has just announced that Underground is shutting down.
All support for the Underground appstore will end in 2019. Until then, current Fire tablet customers will continue to have access to both their previously installed apps, as well as the Underground appstore itself. Access to the Underground appstore on non-Fire tablets, i.e., Android phones and tablets, will end this summer, but those customers will also be able to continue using any Underground apps they’ve previously installed.
The normal Amazon App Store is unaffected by this change and will likely enjoy a resurgence of users once Underground is finally shuttered.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
