Kyocera Communications Inc. (KCI), has announced it will make 12 “premium Android apps” available to Kyocera Echo users for free as part of a summer promotion.
The Japanese firm hopes games like “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Super Monkey Ball,” and “Burn the Rope,” (which has nothing to do with popular app game “Cut the Rope”) will entice users to its dual screen Android smartphone with savings of between $0.99 to $4.99 per app.
The handset, which sports two touchscreens that fold out to form one 4.7-inch screen with a huge dividing hinge down the middle, has not exactly lived up to its “award winning” promise, with dismal sales thus far. Kyocera must now be hoping that the dozen free apps will swing the pendulum in its favor.
The apps – “Burn the Rope,” “Colours,” “Coropata,” “Crazy Dunker,” “Cupig,” “Induced Current,” “SmackTalk!,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Space Wander Landing,” “Sudoku Master,” “Super Monkey Ball” and “Transporter” -purportedly all showcase best use of the handset’s dual screen.
Only the first 10,000 will be eligible for the combined downloads, though we very much doubt whether even half that number of Sprint customers even own an Echo, or plan to buy one. Even at a $100 price point, Kyocera Echos continue to clutter up Sprint shelf space.
Back in the first quarter of the year when Kyocera launched the Echo it also kicked off an Android Developer Program with a software development kit (SDK) meant to help app makers produce games best adapted to the dual screen. Several big development houses like Electronic Arts and Gameloft used the SDK to develop apps for the phone, but none seem to have produced significant enough momentum to make the platform a hit.
