Amazon Appstore is now available outside the US

ONLINE BOOKSELLER Amazon's Appstore is now available in countries including the UK, India and Australia, according to reports.

The Appstore, launched in March this year, had previously been available only in the US. Those outside the US could use it, but had to register with the American version of Amazon.

According to The Digital Reader, the move to expand Amazon's Appstore to other countries was first reported in Australia. There a source reported that they successfully installed the app store client and registered it with their existing Australian Amazon account.

Later, sources said the app store worked in the Netherlands and India, and confirmed it was available in the UK, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela, Finland, Ireland, Austria, Estonia, Romania, Poland, and more.

Those who want to install the Appstore client and already have an Amazon account should go to http://www.amazon.com/app-email on an Android device.

The INQUIRER managed to download the Amazon Appstore in the UK but we haven't managed to get in working. Instead we got a message saying, "The Amazon Appstore for Android is not yet available in your region".

This matches up to several reports, which indicate that while some have been able to buy from the Appstore, others haven't.

The Amazon Appstore isn't as large as Google's Android Market, as it has only around 15,000 apps compared with the latter's 500,000 plus.

However, it could be a sign that Amazon is very close to launching its Kindle tablet. At the start of this month, The INQUIRER reported that Amazon was redesigning its web site to make it tablet friendly as it prepares for the launch of its own $250 tablet.

Amazon's tablet apparently has a back-lit 7in screen and is geared towards playing internet music and movies. µ