Amazon App Store removes $20 in app purchase limit

In app purchases, particularly in freemium apps are a major source of revenue for the developers of those applications. According to TechCrunch, Amazon sent out an email to its developers saying that the in app purchases can be more than $20 (approx Rs. 1,032). They wrote, “With our parental controls functionality now updated, in-app items over $20 may now be submitted via the developer portal.” This comes at an interesting time because Apple is currently in a law suit against parents whose kids have racked up huge bills from buying in app purchases.

Upped parental controls and therefore in app purchase limits

According to a report by Flurry, 65% of the revenue generated in the iOS App Store comes from in app purchases. Clearly, in app purchases work as bread and butter for developers. Apple’s run into trouble because there is a 15 minute window in which kids can make an in app purchase without having to add the password, once their parent has already entered the password to buy the app, which in most cases, is free. Furthermore, the refund procedure for in app purchases is long winded.

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

Amazon, like its retail site, has implemented the one click payment system in its app store, which, on its own, is a dangerous system to keep around app happy kids. However, at least the Kindle devices come with parental controls which can be added to making purchases in the app store. Parents can either set up a system where a 4 digit pin has to be entered to access the app store, or the password has to be entered over and over again. The parental controls can be accessed from the Settings section of the Kindle.

Currently, the Amazon App Store is a bigger store for Android than is Google Play itself. According to another report by Flurry, the Amazon App Store generates more daily revenue than Google Play. Flurry explains this phenomenon with the popularity of the one click method that Amazon employs. However, now that greater parental controls are implemented, the Amazon App Store has yet another reason to come out on top of Google Play in its own game.