Amazon.com has not explained why they suddenly shut down access to its Appstore for Android devices after earlier in the day allowing access for Australian visitors.One theory is that carriers such as Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will block access to the site in the same way that AT & T in the US is.
An Amazon “how to” email sent to SmartHouse after we registered to download an Android application read “Note: AT&T Wireless does not support the Amazon Appstore for Android”.
The site which was made available to Australians for the first time earlier in the day but promptly shut down after SmartHouse managed to download a paid for application along with a free application.
The Amazon.com Appstore Web page yesterday afternoon was displaying a warning ” “The Amazon Appstore for Android is not yet available in your region”.
Reports from the Netherlands and India suggested the Appstore had been switched on for users in those countries. The UK, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Estonia, Romania, Poland were also said to be inline for the Appstore.
Amazon’s Appstore is a strictly limited service, offering only around 12,000 Android apps – and none for Apple devices – compared with around 250,000 for Google’s official Android Marketplace. However some US users claim they tend to be more useful apps, and the Amazon service offers daily delivery of a free app.
