Amazon has launched Amazon Coins, its virtual currency for buying apps and in-app items, for Kindle Fire users within the US.

To encourage adoption, Amazon has deposited $5-worth of Coins into Kindle users’ accounts. There’s also a reduction of as much as 10 per cent for purchasing the Coins in bulk, and Amazon promises that going forward it’s going to “continue so as to add more how to earn and spend Coins on a much wider range of content and activities”.

For developers, the launch shouldn’t make an excessive amount of of a difference – they’ll still receive the everyday 70 per cent revenue share from purchases made with Coins, and apps don’t require any tweaks to be made compatible with the currency.