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Developer Excitement Grows for Amazon's New Fire Phone
[July 22, 2014]

Developer Excitement Grows for Amazon's New Fire Phone


SEATTLE --(Business Wire)--

(NASDAQ:AMZN)- Amazon today announced that Amazon Appstore selection has nearly tripled over the past year, and since Fire phone launched, the rate of app submissions to the Amazon Appstore has more than doubled. App submissions are at record levels in the 5 week period since launch. In the few weeks since Fire phone launched, developers have already found innovative uses of the phone's enhanced carousel, Dynamic Perspective and Firefly. To learn about how to develop for Fire phone, see what's included in the Dynamic Perspective and Firefly SDKs, and hear what developers are saying about the technologies, visit http://developer.amazon.com/firephone.

"When we launched Fire phone, we couldn't wait to see what developers were going to build with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly," said Mike George, Vice President, Amazon Appstore. "While the underlying technologies for Dynamic Perspective and Firefly are sophisticated, we've made it simple for developers to harness their capabilities. Developers can mix and match APIs from the Dynamic Perspective and Firefly SDKs with standard Android (News - Alert) APIs to create the best experience for their app or game. And in just the few weeks since we unveiled Fire phone, we've been blown away with the new, innovative use cases developed with these groundbreaking technologies."

Innovative Apps and Games with Dynamic Perspective, Firefly and Fire Phone's (News - Alert) Enhanced Carousel
Fire phone is the only smartphone with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly, two new breakthrough technologies that allow customers to see and interact with the world through a whole new lens. Dynamic Perspective is an entirely new sensor system that responds to the way a customer holds, views and moves the phone. Firefly quickly recognizes things in the real world-web and email addresses, phone numbers, QR and bar codes, movies, music, and millions of products, and lets the user take action in seconds-all with the simple press of the Firefly button. In addition, Fire phone's enhanced carousel allows users to see dynamic, relevant information related to the app or game directly on the home screen without needing to launch into the app.

In its new Fire phone app, Fandango, the nation's leading moviegoer destination, is showcasing a top-10 movie list right on the home screen carousel that deep links to show times at nearby theaters for fast on-the-go ticketing. Taking advantage of Dynamic Perspective, directly from the home screen, moviegoers can tilt their phones left to reveal Fandango user movie reviews, navigate moviegoing menus, and see custom video playlists of related movie trailers, celebrity interviews and Fandango's original shows "Weekend Ticket," "Mom's Movie Minute" and "Reel Kids." "We are seeing an enormous shift in consumer engagement and commerce on mobile, as more than half of our ticket sales are now on mobile devices," said Paul Yanover, President of Fandango. "As we work with Amazon on even more unique features for Fire phone, we expect to see continued growth in mobile engagement and ticketing."

eBay (News - Alert) allows shoppers to access op eBay Deals from Fire phone's home screen. Once a shopper is in the app and searching eBay's inventory, the tilt gesture activates search refinements and filters without needing to tap the screen. "Shopping on mobile continues to explode. We are continually developing new and innovative ways to make buying and selling on eBay even easier on across all devices," said RJ Pittman, Chief Product Officer at eBay. "Dynamic Perspective's tilt and gesture capabilities helps us eliminate the number of taps and swipes between search, browse and purchase, delivering a simple, delightful shopping experience to our customers."



When players play Magmic's Rubik's Cube, there are several gestures they can use to navigate the game. By tilting the device, players are able to quickly and easily rotate the entire Rubik's Cube, or they can use their head to peek around the edges of the cube to get a view of any side at any time. "Implementing features like peeking around the cube and auto-pause in Rubik's Cube sounded like a huge undertaking initially. Perhaps it would have been on other platforms. It wasn't. The Amazon team provided all the software, tools, examples and documentation required to make the process extremely easy," said Troy Johnson, Director of OEM and New Platforms, Magmic. "Not only was it easy, I think players will find tremendous value in the features we implemented. Players can now speed cube and watch their favorite content on Amazon Prime without fear of forgetting to pause the Rubik's Cube game."

In Amazing, a puzzle maze game developed by Fluik, the player can explore the specific level they are playing by using their head to look around to map out their course. "For Amazing, it was important for players to step into the world, identify with our character and really experience the atmosphere of the game. Using Dynamic Perspective lets us empower players to explore, peek around corners, look up toward the sky, and add that extra touch of real-life immersion," said Klaus Rubba, CTO of Fluik. "In other titles, we've used the gyroscope and fought with problems around device positioning. There were too many obstacles to overcome. Dynamic Perspective provided a solution that was easy to integrate with no complications; it just worked for Amazing. The positioning and calibration problems we've experienced before were gone."


In République, by Camoflaj, a woman named Hope uses a contraband phone to connect with players who assist in her escape. "When we first got our hands on Fire phone, we instantly thought of ways to better connect the player with our story and characters," said Ryan Payton, designer at Camouflaj. "Exclusive to the Fire phone version of République, players are able to 'Call Hope,' triggering a video chat with the game's heroine for additional gameplay tips and backstory. Utilizing Fire phone's head tracking capabilities, Hope will maintain eye contact with the player and even call them out if she can't see them on camera. Thanks to Fire phone's innovative new features, we are able to create an even more immersive story experience, which has been a core tenet of République since the beginning."

Trove, a news streaming service, surfaces news and information to users related to the product they capture with Firefly-a unique technology that lets users take action in seconds based on what Firefly recognizes in the real world. For example, Firefly a Transcendence movie poster, and get the latest news related to the movie and Johnny Depp. "Sometimes helping our readers with finding new topics can be difficult," said Vijay Ravindran (News - Alert), CEO, Trove. "Thanks to our integration with Firefly, Trove readers using Fire phone will be able to discover relevant news related to their Firefly match. From recent product reviews to the latest gossip from a TV show, Trove with Firefly integration is poised to open up a whole new world of news for Fire phone users."

WhitePages helps customers interact with phone numbers in innovative ways when one is identified with Firefly. "We wanted to make sure we took advantage of Firefly's unique capabilities, like phone number recognition, as they align with the core values of our suite of WhitePages apps," said Bill Brooks, Director, Mobile Partnerships, WhitePages. "When a WhitePages app user scans a phone number with Firefly, they have the option to tap the number and not only call or send a text, but can also conduct a WhitePages reverse phone lookup to identify the number and add that enhanced contact to their address book with a single click. WhitePages identifies millions of numbers per day for its users and the integration with Firefly will make this even easier and more valuable for our users."

Kik is the smartphone messaging app used by 40% of US teens that lets people connect with their friends no matter where they meet-at school, on their favorite social app, or in an online game. On Fire phone, Kik shows customers their latest messages listed below their multi-dimensional carousel icon on the home screen. "We're excited to bring Kik to Fire phone. The SDK was easy to use, and let us build an experience that will feel familiar to Kik users and incorporate special features that make Fire phone unique-such as, presenting information on Fire phone's enhanced carousel to make it easy for Kik to notify our users of new messages waiting, without needing to open the app," said Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik.

Daily for Craigslist shows popular and recently viewed categories on Fire phone's enhanced carousel. "Our vision for Daily has always been to let users explore Craigslist in the most efficient yet playful way. With Fire phone, we've been able to take this concept to a whole new level. The peek navigation and Dynamic Perspective interface bring a delightful immersive experience Craigslist users will enjoy tremendously."

TV Guide shows the "trending tonight" list from Fire phone's enhanced home screen. "TV Guide's app for Fire phone gives fans instant access to what's new and trending on TV," said Christy Tanner, SVP and GM, Media, for CBS Interactive. "Now users can track their TV favorites and discover new shows right on their Fire phone home screen, quickly and seamlessly."

About Amazon.com (News - Alert)
Amazon opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995. The company is guided by three principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire phone, Fire tablets, and Fire TV are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.


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