Amazon's Kindle Fire may have a hidden 'app tax'

By JR Raphael (@jr_raphael)  

I wrote earlier about Amazon's new Kindle Fire and how the gadget is truly more of an Amazon media device than a Google Android tablet. From the interface to the app ecosystem and service selection, Amazon has effectively created a whole new platform that just happens to be based on the Android code.

Something else occurred to me, though: Amazon's Kindle Fire app setup, in which the device depends on Amazon's own app store rather than Google's Android Market, may actually end up costing you extra money if you're an existing Android user.

Amazon's Kindle Fire, you see, won't have access to the main Android Market. That presumably means that any apps you've bought from the Android Market won't carry over. App purchases, after all, are recorded and stored within the Market and your Google account. As far as Amazon's app store is concerned, those purchases are irrelevant; they weren't made in Amazon's app store, and consequently, it has no record of them. You'll see that effect right now if you install Amazon's app store on any regular Android phone.

So unless there's something I'm missing, any apps you've already purchased from the Market will have to be bought again (provided they're available in Amazon's app store, of course) in order to be used on the Kindle Fire. This is a sharp contrast from most Android devices, where any app you've purchased can be freely transferred from one phone or tablet to another. 

For those of us who have bought dozens of Android apps over the past months or years, this could end up being a considerable expense.

SEE ALSO: Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet: Some important perspective

JR Raphael writes about smartphones and other tasty technology. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

Article copyright 2011 JR Raphael. All rights reserved.