The proposition is simple – build an app for the new Kindle Fire HD and get exposure. That’s exactly what Amazon is proposing to the app developer community. The benefits are plain to see, to start -you have the Amazon Kindle Fire platform that has captured 22% of the tablet market in just a year’s time. You have the Amazon Appstore ecosystem that comes installed on Kindle out of the box and does not include Google Play. You also have a new edition of the device that is sure to be another hit- Kindle Fire HD. It is looking like some people out there had the wrong plan all along. Amazon has done an incredible job of shifting the US tablet market in its favor and is taking a page from the high-quality, high usability, low price strategy that has served others so well. If you think others haven’t taken notice, all you have to do is look at the “me too” products that have emerged, such as the Google Nexus 7 and the rumored iPad mini.

The proposition goes is that with an app tuned to perfectly utilize the screen size and features of the new Kindle Fire HD, Amazon will be positioned to better promote the app and result in better exposure. In comparison in the Google Play market, where it can be hard to get recognized. It is also more work to support additional devices that have a wide range of devices, resolutions and screen sizes and utilize the service. Releasing to the Amazon Appstore as a Kindle Fire app doesn’t exclude a developer from releasing an app to Google Play by the way. The benefits of being promoted as Kindle Fire apps first however, may prove to be enticing to many developers. Amazon is riding the near-certainty that the Kindle Fire HD will be a hit and courting a surge of apps to support adoption. The strategy is brilliant and if successful would herald a change in the landscape of app development.

Critics are sure to state that the program will lead to further fragmentation of Android. The case can be made that creating a world of device-specific apps limits the opportunities to exposure to the greater Android community, and that adopting to numerous device platforms is built into the developer design guidelines. Still, others point out that with numerous versions of Android out there already, this does little if anything at all to the general state of fragmentation.  Notably, wireless carriers have been implementing device-specific apps and utilities on devices they release, so it is not unprecedented.

The question of global market is another deal altogether. Currently there is a non-existent Kindle Fire base outside of the US. This untapped market holds a potential for greater share of the Android market itself. Amazon has a roadmap for Kindle Fire expansion throughout the world.

Amazon’s impact and full game plan remains to be seen, but with the additional introduction on the Kindle Fire of purchasing physical goods, on its own is a significant transformation in the tablet space. There is also much rampant speculation of a rumored Amazon smartphone that is in development. In total, these strategies could equal a path to dominance, leveraging a successful track record in terms of market share.

Open for debate however, is whether this will all be profitable along the way. Striking a contrast, in Apple’s pocket is a dominating track record of profitability on all their devices and in their app environment. There are numerous statistics that indicate Apple consumers are more likely than Android consumers to buy apps. Regardless, the sheer number of Android devices around the world may end up proving a worthwhile target in the end.  So much is unknown and anyone that says they know how this is going to play out is lying or dead wrong.  For even more reference, just go back one year in time and look at what the tablet market looked like then. There was the iPad, and there were a bunch of similar Android devices (many of which carried a higher sticker price). There was no Kindle, and there was no clear way anyone was going to cut into iPad’s share of the market in any significant way. Compare that to today, Kindle Fires are sold out and the demand is seemingly insatiable.  Needless to say, the Amazon strategy on the road to its ends appears to have been well executed, and the next phase appears to be on the way.