Candy Crush, Chase, Dropbox, Facebook, iHeartRadio, Instagram,
Flixster, MapQuest, Mint.com, NBC News, Orbitz, Pandora, Pinterest,
Skype, Snowspin, Stage Dive Legends, SquareHub, StubHub, Terreria, The
Walking Dead, Twitter, Yahoo, Uber, USA TODAY, Washington Post, WebMD,
WhatsApp, Yelp and Zillow are just a few of the apps and games
developers are building for Fire
Developing for Fire is easy with pre-built controls, Android API
extensions, and broad Android app compatibility supported by Fire OS
Apps and games submitted and approved by July 18 will be in the
Amazon Appstore when Fire ships on July 25
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 18, 2014--
(NASDAQ:AMZN)—Today at a launch event in Seattle, Amazon founder Jeff
Bezos unveiled Fire, the first phone designed by Amazon. Fire 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. The Dynamic Perspective SDK gives developers access to
algorithms that identify the X, Y and Z coordinates of the head,
enabling a whole new class of apps and games. 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.
With the Firefly SDK, developers can extend the use of the Firefly
button to enable new actions their users can take based on what they
identify. See a full breakdown of the Dynamic Perspective and Firefly
SDKs, their contents, and what developers are saying about them at http://developer.amazon.com/firephone.
Apps and games submitted and approved by July 18 will be available in
the Amazon Appstore when Fire ships on July 25.
“Today we are launching the Dynamic Perspective SDK and the Firefly SDK.
The underlying technologies for Dynamic Perspective and Firefly are
sophisticated, but we’ve made it simple for developers to harness their
capabilities,” said Ian Freed, Vice President, Amazon Fire phone.
“Developing for Fire is easy—developers can mix and match APIs from the
Dynamic Perspective and Firefly SDKs with standard Android APIs. We
can’t wait to see what developers are going to do with these new,
exciting technologies.”
Dynamic Perspective SDK
The Dynamic Perspective SDK includes a rich set of APIs and Controls to
help developers do a number of things, such as incorporate peek, tilt
and zoom capabilities within their app based on customer head movements,
create immersive game play that includes depth, or provide quick
navigation menus by tilting the device to the left or right. Here’s how
developers are already using the Dynamic Perspective SDK:
USA TODAY used the Dynamic Perspective SDK to customize Fire’s enhanced
carousel and show headlines most relevant to customer interest directly
from the main Fire home screen. For example, if a customer frequents NFL
stories in the Sports section, those headlines will appear prominently
on Fire’s carousel. Additionally, while in the USA TODAY app, a user can
tilt left to quickly get to special features like The Day in Pictures
and Snapshot Polls. “Fire has provided USA TODAY with a unique platform
for a deep, interactive experience,” said David Payne, Chief Digital
Officer, Gannett. “Our new app for Fire lets readers take full advantage
of Fire’s convenient one-handed navigation. Users get around the app
easily with quick access to top-level navigation or headlines in any USA
TODAY sub-section: News, Sports, Life, Money, Tech, Travel and Opinion.”
Zillow used the Dynamic Perspective SDK to integrate real-time
information into their app’s user experience. In the Zillow app for
Fire, customers can view new listings or nearby homes for sale and rent,
right on the Fire carousel without having to open the Zillow app. In
addition, Zillow brought a new photo experience to the device so users
can use their head to zoom in on a bedroom or peek to see what’s around
the kitchen corner. “Real estate shopping is an inherently mobile
experience so any chance we have to bring listings or new information to
a home shopper while they’re out on the go is a great thing,” said
Jeremy Wacksman, Vice President of Marketing and Mobile, Zillow. “Photos
are incredibly impactful for home shoppers—it is the most common
activity for users of our app. We are thrilled to be able to go one step
beyond static images and offer our users the opportunity to zoom in on
the photos and then peek around the room with the Dynamic Perspective
SDK.”
Ezone.com, the creators of Snow Spin and Crazy
Snowboard, used the Dynamic Perspective SDK to allow players to
control game characters using their head and how they view and move the
phone—no tapping on the screen necessary. Using head and hand movements,
users can control direction and jumping. Additionally, Ezone.com created
a special backflip jump in Snow Spin exclusive to Fire
customers, which is accessed with just a quick head nod. “Porting our
existing Android versions of Snow Spin and Crazy Snowboard
to Fire couldn’t have been easier, and we were able to add new
innovative game moves such as the backflip with just a flick of your
head, enabling even higher scores,” said Simon Edis, CEO of Ezone.com.
“The Amazon team had all the tools ready to go, making it super easy for
us to just drop them in our games and publish.”
CrowdStar used the Dynamic Perspective SDK to create the ability for Covet
Fashion users to select their favorite fashion choices for their
model. Using tilt and zoom, players can see details of outfits, making
it easy and fun to vote on looks. “Dynamic Perspective is so innovative
we’ve just begun to figure out how to take advantage of all the
technology has to offer. The simplicity of the user interface and design
around a one handed experience will allow us full creativity as we look
ahead in our portfolio of apps and games,” said Jeffrey Tseng, CEO of
CrowdStar. “Dynamic Perspective has unlocked capabilities we’ve always
wanted to create in our game—incorporating zoom and pan in an incredibly
natural way without having to touch the screen, is just the first
example.”
Firefly SDK
With the Firefly SDK, developers can build apps that recognize real
world objects—QR and bar codes, artwork, songs, movies and more—and let
customers interact with them. The Firefly SDK comes with built-in
recognizers and databases for products, music, movies, URLs and
websites, as well as built-in actions such as dialing a phone number,
looking up an object on Amazon or going to a website. Developers can use
the Firefly SDK to take advantage of the built-in recognizers, databases
and actions. Here’s how developers are already using the Firefly SDK:
iHeartRadio utilized the Firefly SDK with the built-in music recognizer
and music database to identify songs playing. They built their own
Firefly action to create iHeartRadio Custom Stations based on the artist
and song Firefly recognizes. “Our integration allows listeners using
Firefly to seamlessly discover music in a whole new way,” said Brian
Lakamp, President of Digital for Clear Channel/iHeartRadio. “The Firefly
SDK implementation enables music lovers to quickly dive into an
iHeartRadio custom experience featuring a variety of songs similar to
the one they just heard with just a touch of a button.”
StubHub used the Firefly SDK and the built-in Firefly song recognizer to
let customers identify songs playing in the background and take various
actions. “StubHub used the Firefly SDK and the built-in song recognizer,
added a Firefly database of concerts and created a ticket purchase
action so when customers hear a song in the background they can find out
if the band is playing in their area and buy tickets,” said Brendan
Weinstein, Android Development Lead at StubHub. “We extended the
experience further by using the Dynamic Perspective SDK to bring users
right into the concert—letting them look around a stadium or arena to
get the feel for the specific seat they are interested in.”
Vivino, the most downloaded wine app in the world, will be using the
Firefly SDK to add a new recognizer, database and actions to let
customers learn about wine from wine labels. Customers will be able to
just point Firefly at a wine label and find out the wine’s origins, its
rating and food pairing suggestions. “We are currently working with the
Firefly SDK to incorporate our sophisticated wine recognition software
and comprehensive database of wine, to enable customers to select the
best wine for any occasion,” said Heini Zachariassen, CEO at Vivino.
“Soon, with the touch of a button, Fire customers can pick the best
Cabernet, Merlot or Sauvignon Blanc for the perfect complement to a
romantic dinner, cocktail party or special event.”
Android Compatibility
Fire is based on Android so if an app runs on Android it can run on Fire
with little to no work. For a developer who just wants to get started
with Fire they can submit their existing apps to the Amazon Appstore.
Or, they can use the Dynamic Perspective and Firefly SDKs to easily
integrate UI features such as shadows or hovering images within the app
or game, or create left and right panels based on Fire’s three-panel UI
design.
Reliance Entertainment Digital develops Real Steel World Robot Boxing.
The game has more than 20 million downloads and has been available on
Kindle Fire for the past 6 months. “We knew we wanted to take our Kindle
Fire tablet game and make it available for Fire,” said Amit Khanduja,
Global Executive Vice President at Reliance Big Entertainment. “Using
the Android API controls that were familiar to us, we took our tablet
app, made very minor updates and the game was ready within days
for Fire. We are working on bringing all our games to Fire very quickly.”
ZQGame, a phone and tablet developer and publisher, used Fire’s Android
API controls to do a simple and seamless port of their RPG Game, Pocket
Knights, for Fire. “Device and platform diversity is how we are able
to gain millions of players from around the world,” said Xin Liu, Chief
Technology Officer, ZQGame, Inc. “The ease of use of Fire’s Android API
made the transition of bringing our game to Fire simple—taking us only
three days to be ready to deploy.”
Developer Benefits
With the launch of Fire, Amazon is making it even easier for developers
to reach customers and monetize in the Amazon Appstore:
-
Amazon Mobile Ads API—developers earn $6 for every thousand
interstitial ads displayed across any supported device in August and
September (up to one million impressions per app per month) when they
distribute their apps on Fire phones and send the first ad request
from a qualified app.
-
Amazon App Testing Service—developers can now use Amazon’s app
testing service to test their Fire apps before submitting them to the
Amazon Appstore. Developers simply drag and drop an app and most will
receive feedback about their app’s functionality within 90 seconds.
-
Appstore Developer Select—developers who enhance their existing
Kindle Fire app to include the immersive new features in Fire phone
can qualify for a special 500,000 Amazon Coins offer through the
Appstore Developer Select Program and create campaigns where customers
earn those Coins when they purchase apps and games. This is in
addition to the regular program benefits that include 500,000 mobile
ad impressions, enhanced merchandising, AWS credits, and additional
Amazon Coins incentives. More details on the Appstore Developer Select
program can be found at http://developer.amazon.com/select.
About Amazon.com
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.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr
