Amazon talks Kindle Fire app lineup ahead of Nov. 15 release

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AppId is over the quota
Summary: The Kindle Fire’s Amazon AppStore will launch with just “the basics”: from Netflix, EA games to Quickoffice Pro, but will they be enough to satisfy app-savvy users?

In case you’re getting cold feet about your Kindle Fire pre-order now that you realize the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet offers the better hardware, Amazon wants to hit you over the head with all the software/apps that will be coming to your 7-inch Amazon device next week.

Because the Kindle Fire runs a highly customized version of Android, all the apps have to be optimized for this particular device. Here is a list of apps that you can expect in the Amazon AppStore at launch:

NetflixRhapsodyPandoraTwitterComics by comiXologyFacebookThe Weather ChannelAllrecipesBloombergLinkedInZillowPulseThe Cat in the HatQuickoffice ProJamie’s 20-Minute MealsIMDb Movies & TVMonkey Preschool Lunchbox Games: from Zynga, Electronic Arts, Gameloft, PopCap and Rovio Fruit NinjaCut the RopeBattleheartJengaDoodle FitDoodle JumpAirport Mania

In addition, users will be able to download a “paid” app for free every day, as well as access Amazon’s over “18 million movies, TV shows, songs, books, magazines, apps and games, free storage in the Amazon Cloud [as well as] Whispersync for books and movie.” Kindle Fire owners will also get to enjoy one-month’s free Amazon Prime membership, where they will have access to 13,000 movies and TV shows for unlimited streaming, and Personal Library privileges of one free book a month with no due dates.

If the selling point of the Kindle Fire is its limitless content/ecosystem, then Amazon has its work cut out to port more Kindle Fire-friendly apps to its slate, and quickly. For one thing, it’s not clear from this list just which app will be available for free and which one will cost money, which could mean even fewer app options for frugal users. Although these Kindle Fire apps may cover all the basis — games, social media, news/informational and productivity apps — I have a feeling users will go through them quickly and will soon demand more. It’s also possible that Kindle Fire owners have different expectations of their tablet app-wise because they are more compelled by Amazon’s content and cloud services than its app library la iOS. What do you think?

[Source: Amazon press release]

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Gloria Sin is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

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