Amazon made its Coins virtual currency available in France, Spain and Italy, offering Amazon Appstore users in these markets 500 free Coins to promote the launch.

First introduced in the US, UK and Germany last year, Amazon Coins can be used to buy paid Android apps in the Amazon Appstore or purchase in-app items with discounts of up to 10 per cent. 100 Coins are worth €1.

Kindle Fire owners will receive 500 free coins automatically via their Amazon accounts while Android device users that use Amazon Appstore will receive the same amount when they update their client and download an app.

Developers will receive cash whether purchases are made using Amazon Coins or another payment method, with the same 70 per cent revenue share across the board.

App makers do not need to integrate an API to benefit from Amazon Coins, but must ensure their titles are available in the new Coins markets.

Amazon said the Coins promotion will provide developers with additional opportunities to boost sales of their apps, as the initial launches did last year.

Game developer Halfbrick Studios saw “significant increase” in revenue following the introduction of Coins, while Barnstorm Games saw a 10-fold increase in sales during the promotion, and 500 per cent afterwards.

In August last year, Amazon said almost half of developers who monetise their apps using Coins saw weekly revenue rise by more than 50 per cent after introduction of the virtual currency.

Amazon recently extended the availability of Coins to all Android devices, in addition to the Kindle Fire tablets.