Amazon has announced a new virtual currency for purchasing games, apps, and in-app items on the Kindle Fire. ‘Amazon Coins‘ will be an easy way for customers to spend money in the Amazon Appstore. They are geared towards developers to help drive traffic, downloads, and increase monetization.

Launching in May in the U.S., Amazon Coins will be quick and easy to buy using customers’ Amazon accounts, and the company will give away tens of millions of dollars’ worth of coins for them to get started.

Amazon Appstore developers will earn their standard 70% revenue share when customers make purchases using Amazon Coins. They need to get their apps submitted to the Amazon Appstore and approved by April 25th to take advantage of the launch. Paul Ryder, vice president of apps and games for Amazon, said:

Developers continue to report higher conversion rates on Amazon compared to other platforms. Now we have another new way to help developers reach even more of our millions of customers. Amazon Coins gives customers an easy way to spend money on developers’ apps on Kindle Fire in the Amazon Appstore.

Amazon Coins