from Hacker News

Amazon to Introduce Amazon Coins in May

by DallaRosa on 4/26/13, 2:08 AM with 1 comments

• by ScottWhigham on 4/26/13, 11:01 AM

  To help promote this new currency, Amazon is going to give away tens of millions of dollars in Amazon Coins to Kindle Fire users. This money will be burning a proverbial hole in customers’ pockets as they look for places to spend it. We’d like your app to be one of the tempting places to spend that currency.

  That's such a weird juxtaposition of ideas - "promoting a new currency" by giving away "tens of millions of dollars". It just feels weird. I suppose it's ultimately no different than Google Checkout giving users $10 on their first purchase[1] but it just feels different when they say "currency" vs. "payment method". With the phrase "payment method", my brain does the mental switch, "Should I pay with my Visa or my Amex card? Or what about cash?" No worries - we do that often enough that it's second nature. But with the word "currency", my brain does a double take - "Wait - I have to learn a new currency?" and then there's all sorts of questions...

  Oh well, nothing of value to my post here - just brain dumping.

  [1] http://www.michikono.com/2007/03/23/the-importance-of-google...