I had an email today from Amazon inviting me to join their new Amazon Appstore for Android. The enticement was a free copy of Bejeweled 2.

The question is, why do we need another third party app store for Android, when the official Marketplace works perfectly well as it is?

My only conclusion is Amazon gearing up for a more global launch of the Kindle Fire, and generating their own App store ready to integrate it. After all, the Fire isn't compatible with the official Android Marketplace.

If that isn't the case then I see no reason to use an alternative Amazon store to obtain exactly the same Apps as the Android Marketplace. I could see Apps splitting between the 2 which could cause issues and annoyance. I can fully understand Amazon wanting to get in on the lucrative mobile market this way, but we just don't need another store when one already exists for exactly the same market and mobile OS.