Amazon US has launched a new app for Android Devices – called Amazon Underground, which along with being a regular shopping app, will also give you access to premium apps, games and in-app items for completely free.
Amazon says that users of underground app will find 100% free versions of popular premium titles like OfficeSuite professional 8, Goat Simulator, PhotoSuite 4 and also allow free in-app purchases on games like Frozen Free Fall, Star Wars rebels, Angry Birds Slingshot Stella, Looney Tunes Dash and more.
How Does Amazon give Premium Apps for Free?
Amazon says that they have worked out a new business model with Android App and Game developers where Amazon pays them a certain amount on per-minute played basis in exchange for them waving off their normal in-app fees.
Amazon will pick up the said per-minute charges and pay to developers, so the end user playing the game or using the app will not have to make any payments and will be completely free.
You will not find Amazon Underground app in the Google Play Store because as per the policy any app on Play store cannot offer other apps and games inside their app. So, the underground app will needed to be installed by Android users as Third-party app. You will need to download Underground app by directly visiting Amazon.com website.
Amazon also points to the fact that Underground app is a long term program rather than a one-off promotion. Over time they will add more apps and benefits to the app users!
Does it Work?
We did download the Amazon Underground app and tried download few “Actually Free” apps. Unfortunately, it was not straight forward. It seems, Amazon Underground is currently available only for US users and not open for Indians.
After figuring that out, we switched the geo-location from India to US. However, it still did not give us any apps. Finally, after looking through various tabs and menus, we tried searching for Amazon Underground, and we hit upon another “underground app” which needed to be downloaded.
Finally when we searched for ‘Actually Free’ apps, and clicked on them, it asked us to update the app (see above screenshot). After trying to figure out the way to update the app again, we finally gave up.
In short, Underground is available and yes, actually free apps are present, but you will struggle trying to download them (if you are in India).
We were unsuccessful in downloading any apps, do let us know if you had any better luck…
