Original Amazon app removed from the Play Store because of App Store integration

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Published 12 Dec 2014

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Google has removed Amazon’s primary app from the Play Store. This has led Amazon to upload another app on the Play Store — Amazon Shopping — but it does not come with the company’s app store, which was present in the previous app.

The app store is also the reason why Google had blocked Amazon’s original app from the Play Store in the first place. Google’s terms and conditions clearly state it does not allow any app on the Play Store whose primary focus is to promote other competing app stores.

Amazon had silently sneaked in its App Store in its primary app with an update on September 9. While the app’s primary focus was still around shopping on Amazon, it also had a link to its own App Store, which was not exactly against Google’s ToS. However, Google updated the section 4.5 of its ToS on September 25 for “additional clarity,” which forced Amazon to remove the original app from the Play Store.

Below is the original section before being modified on September 25:

4.5 Non-Compete. You may not use the Market to distribute or make available any Product whose primary purpose is to facilitate the distribution of software applications and games for use on Android devices outside of the Market.

The modified section 4.5:

4.5 Alternative Stores. You may not use the Store to distribute or make available any Product which has a purpose that facilitates the distribution of software applications and games for use on Android devices outside of the Store.

Even though Google says it made this change for “additional clarity,” there is a high probability the company made this change after it realized that Amazon had found a way past its ToS to promote its own App Store from within its mobile shopping app.