Amazon passes 50,000 apps in Appstore for Android

Amazon Appstore for Android
50,505 apps and counting

Amazon's off to a good start ahead of its 10:30 a.m. PST press event in Santa Monica, Calif, thanks to its Appstore for Android reaching more than 50,000 apps.

The figure is actually 50,505, with 31,250 of those Kindle Fire compatible. It took just 18 months for the store to reach the milestone.

This second number is particularly significant as the company readies to launch what most expect will be two new tablets Thursday: likely a 10-inch Kindle Fire and a new Kindle ereader, possibly the Paperwhite Kindle we saw leaked last week.

Hint, hint

Amazon aired an advertisement during Wednesday night's first regular season NFL game that seemed to hint at a new larger Kindle Fire (possible the Kindle Fire 2) and a backlit, higher contrast, higher resolution ereader.

While we won't know just what's going to come out of the airplane hangar Amazon is hosting its event in for a little while longer, we can only imagine they're getting ready to take on tablet titan Apple (expected to launch an iPad Mini next month) as well as Google (Nexus 7), Barnes & Noble (Nook Tablet) and Samsung.

Samsung recently unveiled its Galaxy Note II and while they don't bill it as a tab, it fits certain slate criteria, particularly in size.

TechRadar is live at the Amazon event and will have all the latest, hands on reviews and more coming out of Los Angeles.

Via Amazon Appstore for Android, The Verge

Michelle Fitzsimmons

Michelle was previously a news editor at TechRadar, leading consumer tech news and reviews. Michelle is now a Content Strategist at Facebook.  A versatile, highly effective content writer and skilled editor with a keen eye for detail, Michelle is a collaborative problem solver and covered everything from smartwatches and microprocessors to VR and self-driving cars.