Amazon Appstore now has over 240,000 apps, Kindle Fire developers often getting paid better than on other platforms

Amazon is expected to unveil its first smartphone on Wednesday, and right before the big moment, the company has shared some big stats - the Amazon Appstore has reached 240,000 apps, nearly three times as much as it had last year. Moreover, Amazon’s Appstore serves the apps to customers in some 200 countries.

This is a big number for Amazon, but it is still far behind Apple with its 1.2-billion App Store, and Google with Android’s Play Store that had over 1 billion apps more than half a year ago.

Unlike Google’s Play Store, though, Amazon’s catalog is curated and the company points out that numbers are not all - it’s also about the quality of the applications, and the pay-outs to developers, where Amazon has done very well. Some reports even go on to claim that developers who publish exclusively on Amazon’s Appstore can make more revenue than on iOS.

The latest IDC survey (that you should read with a shade of doubt as it’s sponsored by Amazon) found that 65% of the 360 polled developers found Kindle Fire apps to bring them as much or more money as on other platforms, and 74% found ARPU (average revenue per user) to be again equal or better than others on the Kindle Fire.

This official statement by Amazon comes right on the verge of the unveiling of the Amazon ‘Kindle Fire’ smartphone that is expected to come with a whopping 4 front cameras to provide users with unique 3D-esque effects.