Amazon launches sign-in service

Amazon launched Login with Amazon, a new service that will enable the over 200 million active Amazon customers to securely and simply login to apps, games, and websites.

According to a 2012 Harris Interactive study, over half of all American Internet users have five or more unique passwords to remember. Login with Amazon reduces sign-in friction by eliminating the need for users to create an account and password, and instead allows them to sign-in using their existing Amazon account information. Amazon customers can choose to share certain attributes of their account profile with apps, games, and websites by using Login with Amazon.

Login with Amazon is available at no charge to developers of apps, games, and websites. The service is easy to integrate, as developers can typically go from registration to launch in a matter of hours. It is based on the OAuth 2.0 authorization framework, allowing developers to leverage a widely-adopted open protocol.

Login with Amazon is the latest offering in an array of services that make Amazon the most complete end-to-end ecosystem for developers building, monetizing and marketing their apps and games.

These capabilities include:

• The ability for app developers to use Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) technology platform for their infrastructure needs. Building blocks such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), and Amazon DynamoDB allow developers to focus on what differentiates their app rather than the undifferentiated heavy lifting of infrastructure.
• GameCircle, which includes capabilities like Achievements, Leaderboards, Friends and Whispersync for syncing games across devices, and leads to better engagement with games.
• In-App Purchasing on Kindle Fire, Mac, PC and web-based games. This enables developers to offer items in their apps and games while allowing their end users to simply use their Amazon accounts to make the purchase.
• A/B Testing, which helps developers improve app functionality with the ability to simultaneously test two different in-app experiences to determine which is more successful prior to launching to a broad audience.
• Game Connect, which lets developers list their virtual goods for sale on Amazon, increasing discoverability of their games and making the purchase of virtual goods as easy and convenient as possible for customers, leading to increased monetization for developers.
• Amazon AppStore submission for distribution to nearly 200 countries globally enables developers to reach millions of Amazon customers worldwide.