Amazon announced today that Amazon Coins are now available for purchase in Australia.
Coins can be used on the Amazon AppStore as an alternative purchase method for both apps and in-app purchases, and you can buy them from Amazon directly. In the future you might also be able to redeem coins for other things should the company launch its content stores in Australia. In the US, you can also earn coins on some promotional items in a sort of “cash back” arrangement and Amazon says they’ll continue to add ways to earn and spend coins in Australia too.
The going rate is 1 coin = AU $0.01, but Amazon’s running a promotion at the moment offering 20% off some purchases as an introductory offer. Coins can also be gifted to others, and Australian Kindle Fire and Amazon Appstore customers have been given 500 free coins to start them off (a $5 credit).
The discounts available for bulk purchases essentially translate to discounts on apps in Amazon’s Appstore, so if you buy a lot of apps you might do well to check it out.
It looks like Amazon’s still rolling the feature out – while we received a media release this morning, the actual product information pages aren’t quite working yet, the purchase page has only just come online, and only offers limited denominations of coins. Keep an eye on it over the course of the afternoon, and let us know how you go!
Have you used or purchased Amazon Coins? Are you likely to do so now that they’re available here? Give us your thoughts in the comments!
It would be great if Amazon opened up and started selling stuff here in Australia.