Amazon launched it’s Amazon Appstore for Android

Amazon launched it’s Amazon Appstore for Android today. And to celebrate, the bookseller is offering Angry Birds RIO for .99 all day today, and a regularly paid app available for free every day. The App store, which got major notice when Rovio opted to sell it’s line of Angry Birds titles exclusively, represents serious competition to the Android Market and could represent a real threat to the dominance of the iTunes App Store.

“Test Drive lets customers truly experience an app before they commit to buying. It is a unique, new way to shop for apps,” says Paul Ryder, vice president of electronics for Amazon.com. “Our customers have told us that the sheer number of apps available can make it hard to find apps that are high quality and relevant to them.”

What differentiates the the Amazon App Store from others is their Test Drive capability. Customers can shop from any computer platform and Amazon includes a virtual Android Phone that allows users to test drive the app before paying for it. It also allows new Android users to experience Android for themselves before committing to the platform. Customers will also be able to shop directly for apps directly on their Android device.

And users will be able to benefit from Amazon features like user recommendations and reviews and 1-click payment options. And like the iTunes App Store, all apps must be sumitted and approved by Amazon before they are offered for sale in the Amazon Appstore. This should help to combat the growing number of third party apps that have been wreaking havoc on the Android platform of late after being repackaged with malware.