/*-------------------------------------------程序猿的进化论------------------------------------------------*/
Hacker News上收集了很多IT界牛人的博客，有的文章读后感觉醍醐灌顶，有的文章幽默诙谐，有的文章完全颠覆你的价值观。
IT界也有感性的文化，也有惊艳的艺术。
为了解到最新的IT资讯，同时提升自己的英文水平，我将打造一个翻译Hacker News的专题。
如果你也有兴趣一起发布、分享、翻译最新的Hacker News...
请转往以下站点：
1、译言网的Hacker News小组
2、豆瓣的Hacker News小站
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Amazon Coins Will Be A Welcome Disruption To Android Developers
Amazon have announced a virtual
currencyor their Android App Store, Amazon Coins, and it could be one of the most disruptive services offered by CEO Jeff Bezos to the Android community. As it stands Coins is
targeted at buying applications, but if you look
beyond that, there is a huge potential for disruption in the Android ecosystem which could reward Amazon, Android developers, and the consumer.
One area that immediately springs to mind is how Coins will interact with Kindle FreeTime. This is the service that provides a walled garden inside the Kindle Fire Android tablets and allows children to play and explore, with their parents reassured that they
can’t run up bills or order anything from the Amazon store.
I can easily see FreeTime having its own ‘balance’ driven by Amazon Coins purchased by the parents so children can have some digital pocket money to spend as they see fit, but only the fixed amount transferred
into the FreeTime account by their parents. 200 coins a month, does that feel about right?
It’s the options available to Amazon if they move Coins away from an alternative way to buy apps but start to provide developers tools to use Coins as an in-app currency that really interest me.
I hope Amazon will make this as simple as possible for developers to use, and provide an SDK that will work over all Android devices (not just the Kindle Fire). If so they can provide developers an alternative
to Google Play for in-app purchasing. While the exchange rate at the moment is set to 1 coin per US cent, I’m sure that there will be special offers and exchange rates to kick start the program. Amazon has shown before they’re happy to buy the hearts and minds
of Android developers to get them coming through their stores.
Competition is going to be good for the Android ecosystem, and Google Play against Amazon Coins for in-app purchasing is going to be an interesting struggle to watch.
Amazon of course want to bring more developers to their attention, and be able to ensure the best apps are available in the Amazon App Store. The Amazon Coin SDK will give them another engagement opportunity,
and data points for applications and techniques that are earning money.
This increase of income streams might seem, in the short term, to be a problem for the users. After all, aren’t they going to be expected to pay more so developers see more money? That is true, but margins
and profits in the mobile app space (especially on Android) are not stunning. Without revenue flowing to the developers, there will be no high quality app economy. In the long term, if Amazon Coins can reward developers while feeling fair to users encountering
the service in their apps, then this is for the benefit of the whole app ecosystem on mobile devices.
And another thought. Amazon Coins can potentially add more to Amazon’s bottom line than the conversion fee to move between the virtual currency and hard cash. People buying coins are unlikely to spend
all the coins in one transaction. Which leaves Amazon with a nice cash pile of purchased but unspent coins. It might not start out large, but if Coins becomes established, with millions of users, expect Amazon to work this reserve for their benefit.
As announced today, Amazon Coins is a one way street, to ‘load up’ an account that can be used to buy applications in the Amazon App Store. But let’s not skate to where the puck is, let’s skate to where
Jeff Bezos’ puck is going to be. Which is a time when Amazon will have a micro-currency established across the Android ecosystem, when developers have an attractive alternative that provides them a solid income stream, when users are encouraged to spend their
money and reward the developers.
That’s something I can see fitting in perfectly to Amazon’s ethos and strategy.
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亚马逊推虚拟货币，激励Android开发者编写应用
Amazon宣布将为自己的Android应用市场推出一种虚拟货币，称为“亚马逊币”（Amazon Coins），这将是亚马逊CEO Jeff Bezos 对于Android应用社区的一次积极的推进。该虚拟货币是用来购买应用程序的，但是，如果你从长远来看，这将是对Android生态系统的一次积极影响。它能使Amazon、Android开发者、消费者都能从中受益。
有一个值得立即关注的点就是这种虚拟货币将如何在Kindle FreeTime上发行。Kindle FreeTime是Kindle Fire平板上的一款服务。这个服务的本质是为孩子提供一个健康安全的休闲时光，供孩子在平板电脑上娱乐以及探索，同时使得他们的父母能够放心。因为父母可以设定他们的账户金额以及孩子们的下载资源。
我预测到FreeTime将会有一个平衡，使得父母给予孩子一些电子货币用来购买他们认为合适的东西，同时，这些从父母的账户中转到FreeTime的钱只会是固定的一部分。200币一个月，看起来还挺合适的。
但是，真正让我感兴趣的是，Amazon是否会将这种虚拟货币从购买应用程序推广到成为用于应用程序内部的一种支付方式。
我希望Amazon能够为开发者提供SDK使他们能够很方便的使用，同时，我希望这种虚拟货币能够推广到Android的所有平台，而不仅仅是Kindle Fire。如果能够这样，那么它将为开发者提供了Google Play之外的另一个应用程序市场。虽然现在的虚拟货币的兑换比例才达到1币：1美分的时候，但是我相信，很快会有一个更好的优惠及汇率会出现，使得上面的场景能够发生。Amazon已经在之前展示出他们对Android开发者有着极大兴趣，他们非常欢迎开发者到他们的应用商店来。
竞争对于Android生态环境而言，是一件好事。Google Play与亚马逊虚拟货币在android应用市场的竞争，将会成为一段有趣的看点。
Amazon当然想要吸引更多的开发者的目光，使得Amazon应用商店有最好的应用程序。Amazon Coin SDK将给开发者另一个从事的机会，使他们能够通过自己的软件、技术来赚钱。
这种增加的收入，在短时间内似乎意味着对于用户而言是一个不好的消息。毕竟，他们将要为开发者支付更高的费用。但是，在移动应用程序商店（尤其是在Android上）里，并没有很高的利润。开发者没有高的收入，是不会产生一个高质量的应用程序市场的。所以，从长期来看，Amazon的虚拟货币将会激励开发者为消费者提供更好的服务，这将使移动设备上的整个应用程序生态系统收益。
另一个观点是，Amazon可以通过这种虚拟货币来赚取虚拟货币与现金之间的差额。因为，通常，人们在一次交易中并不会花去他们购买来的全部的虚拟货币。而Amazon可以得到余下的一点钱，虽然这个数量不会很大，但是，如果这种虚拟货币机制成功建立的话，将会有几百万的用户，那么，Amazon就需要对这部分利润有一个好的储备。（expect
Amazon to work this reserve for their benefit.）
就目前而言，Amazon称这种虚拟货币只是一个单向道，只用来够买Amazon应用商店的应用程序。但是，如果我们能够想想Jeff Bezos的最终目标。那么，我们可以看到，这是一个Amazon在Android生态系统中建立微观货币的时代。在这个时代，吸引开发者的收入渠道将不再只有一个。在这个时代，用户乐于花钱去回馈开发者。
这些正是我从Amazon的企业气质以及商业策略中预见到的。
--------------by---------zerocool--------2013年2月6日23:40:00