Straight from Amazon's press room comes the news that Amazon has officially launched Amazon Coins, which the company excitingly claims are "a great way for customers to save money when they buy apps, games and in-app items" for Kindle Fire users. To help everyone start using Amazon Coins, Amazon has deposited 500 of them into the accounts of all existing and new Kindle Fire users in the US.

Amazon Coins were initially announced back in February, with the company saying they're primarily designed to benefit developers and consumers. "For customers, Amazon Coins is an easy way to purchase apps and in-app items on Kindle Fire, and for developers it’s another opportunity to drive traffic, downloads and increased monetization," proclaims this morning's press release.

Ecosystem-specific virtual points systems like Microsoft Points and Amazon Coins have some marginal benefits to consumers and developers, but the real winner is always going to be the issuer—Amazon isn't doing this out of the goodness of its publicly traded heart. Shortly after Amazon Coins were announced in February, The Verge put up a very cogent analysis of the good and bad points behind the system, and the folks stuck using these systems—the customers—are the ones receiving the short end of the stick.

The biggest problem is the inevitable misalignment between "coins" purchased and "coins" used. This is a problem with Microsoft Points, or indeed any points system. Want to buy an app or an in-app purchase for $1? Too bad, because right now, the smallest number of coins you can buy is 500, which will cost you $4.80. You now have $3.80 locked up in Amazon Coins, and there's no way to turn that back into real money.

Now your $3.80 is essentially "spent," and you've got a pretty heavy psychological incentive to get rid of it—you don't want to waste it, do you? As with every other points-based system, it's difficult to "zero" the account; what you want to spend your points on will rarely line up with the number of points you can acquire.

From Amazon's perspective this is fabulous. Every unused Amazon Coin in your account is a little interest-free loan you've been kind enough to extend to Amazon.

The press release goes on to emphasize that the move to Coins will help drive more revenue to Android developers on the Amazon Appstore, which isn't at all a bad thing, but it is a secondary effect. The primary beneficiary of the Amazon Coin system and the obfuscation of costs is none other than Amazon. The original February announcement mentions that usage of Coins will be optional, but today's press release does not contain any language to that effect.

Update: Amazon has informed Ars that, in holding with the initial February announcement, there are no plans to mandate the use of Amazon Coins for in-app Kindle Fire purchases or anything else. Coins are and will remain an optional method of payment.

For now, since the system is just launching, consumers can avoid the whole mess and continue to pay with Kindle Fire apps and in-app purchases with, you know, actual money. However, Amazon will almost certainly be pushing the new Coins with all their might—it's too profitable a measure. Any system which serves to cloak the amount of money spent by a customer behind abstract "points" is bad for consumers, plain and simple.