Today I revisit my musings on Amazon's new Android App Store. I was notified this morning that there was an update for the store. The notification came to me directly through the AppStore App, and not through my usual software update channels. I did not install it because of the reasons listed in my previous musings. Later today, I was doing a little research on Amazon's App Store, and what I learned shocked me.
When you install applications from the Amazon App Store, you do not really own the application. What you instead are installing, is Amazon's permission to run an app, as long as you are connected to their site. The difference? You cannot uninstall Amazon's App Store and still run apps downloaded from it. You cannot log out of Amazon's App Store and still run apps downloaded from it. At some future point, Amazon could require you to pay again, or remove your ability to run the apps you thought you had purchased. If your phone is not connected to the internet, your apps may or may not work (I never actually tried this out).
So it turns out, that Amazon wants to take over your phone. They want to control what you buy, how you buy it, when you can use it, and if you don't like it, they can turn it off, or keep you from using it. I'm sorry Amazon, I usually like your services, but this one really missed the mark. I have uninstalled your App Store, and will not be using it again. I would recommend the same for anyone else who wants control over their phones.
What do you think?
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