AT&T to end its bar on third-party Android app stores

US operator is planning to let Amazon be the first outside party to sell apps to its Android-owning customers.

Amazon’s Appstore for Android is set to become the first non-AT&T store to make apps available to its Android-owning customers, as the US carrier ends its ban on such stores.

“We're working to give our Android customers access to third party application stores,” AT&T tells Engadget in a statement. “This requires updates to our systems and finalizing arrangements with Amazon. We will share more info with our customers in the near future.”

Google has always prided itself on making Android as open as possible, but that includes giving its operator partners the freedom to make their branded Android handsets as closed as they want.

The news came as AT&T customers complained about not being able to get the new Angry Birds Rio game on Android, since it’s currently exclusive to the new Amazon Appstore.