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Amazon Appstore is live now, but ‘not yet available’ in the UK

The long-awaited Amazon Appstore is live and kicking right now. It features some of the best Android apps at lower than normal prices. It’s also currently the only place to get advert-free versions of Angry Birds for Android and the recently released Angry Birds Rio.

The catch? The Appstore service isn’t live in the UK and nor will it be anytime soon.

When we spoke to Amazon earlier it said via a statement that it’s “launching [the Appstore] now in the US,” but added that it is “a global business and we will continue to evaluate opportunities to do what’s in the best interest of our customers. At this time, we have not announced plans on international launches.”

So in short, don’t hold your breath for a UK version.

Frustratingly, while we were able to download the official Android app earlier today, we weren’t able to actually download any apps or games. Even free ones, like Angry Birds Rio.

When we tried to buy anything, all we got was a ‘purchase failed’ notification and a message saying ‘The Amazon Appstore for Android is not yet available in your region’.

If you fancy torturing yourself over not being able to get ad-free Angry Birds or Rio, you can still download the Amazon App Store app if you want to have a look for yourselves.

Head on over to http://amzn.to/getamazonappstore on your Android phone’s browser and download the .apk. As it’s an app from outside the Android Market you’ll need to have Unknown Sources checked in your settings.

It looks a lot like you’d expect it to, a sort of cross between the Amazon MP3 and Amazon UK shopping apps. As with both of those, you can log in with your Amazon account.

But alas, all you can really do with it at the moment is browse through the apps and have a look at what you’re missing out on. Like a poor orphan at Christmas staring hungrily through the frosted panes of a toyshop.

But if Amazon does end up rolling out amazon.co.uk/apps, at least then you’ll already have the app installed on your phone. Until then…

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