Kindle Games: Early Thoughts

Amazon signaled a shift in its Kindle strategy when it introduced KDK a while ago. The platform was going to stay closed to a select developers, but the company did promise decent games and apps for Kindle. Just a few days ago, Amazon finally unveiled its first two games for Kindle. These games are mostly word games and are not exactly designed for gaming addicts. But they do appeal a lot to die-hard Kindle fans as Amazon forums are filled with positive messages from excited Kindle fans.

Free games are fun, but they do not tell us much about Amazon’s app strategy. Let’s take Apple. The company may have not had the best smart-phone on the market a few years ago, but it relied on its killer development kit and iTunes to encourage developers to bring their innovative ideas/products to iPhone. Paid apps can work for Amazon too. But can Amazon Kindle handle anything too complicated?

In the past, Jeff Bezos has talked about how Kindle is different from Apple iPad. The iPad is for multi-taskers while Amazon Kindle targets specialists. How can Amazon bring regular games to Kindle without contradicting Mr. Bezos’ statements. Chances are many Kindle owners do not want to play games on their devices. Amazon should just unleash developers and let them start developing their free/paid apps for Kindle. Not every type of app is going to make it big in Kindle Store. But making Kindle fans wait a few months to offer only a couple of simple word games is not too encouraging.

Is Amazon’s window of opportunity closing (when it comes to Kindle apps)? You be the judge.