Apple lawsuit forces Amazon to stop accepting new “Appstore” apps in Germany

Apple’s efforts to get Amazon to stop using the word “Appstore” to describe its app store have not been successful yet.

But Apple has caused Amazon some trouble in Germany: Amazon has recently stopped accepting new apps from developers there because of Apple’s legal action.

Here’s the email that Amazon sent out to its German app developers today, alerting them to the news, which I’ve obtained:

Subject: Important Notice for Germany Based Developers

Dear Amazon Appstore Developer,

Thank you for your participation in the Amazon Appstore for Android.  We wanted to notify you of a recent change to your Developer Portal account; for the time being, we are not accepting new app submissions from developers located in Germany.  We have been forced to impose this restriction due to a legal action filed by Apple in Germany seeking to prevent us from using the term “appstore.”  We believe Apple’s claim is without merit and are actively contesting it.

When you log into your Developer Portal account, you will notice that the options to add new apps have been removed. We hope to begin accepting new apps from German developers again soon and will notify you as soon as we are able to do so.

We appreciate your patience and your continued interest in the Amazon Appstore for Android.

Thank you,

Amazon Appstore Account Team

Also: How Apple is forcing a worse user experience on its customers