Update 2: Just like we expected, Amazon has pulled the plug on the Appstore's international availability. No reason was given, but we already knew that the global launch was unintentional in the first place, so it makes sense.

Of all the gripes surrounding the Amazon Appstore, its lack of international availability has been among the top since its release back in March of this year. However, we're starting to hear that Big A may have quietly unleashed its third-party Android market to several countries outside of the US.

According to The Digital Reader, users in the UK, Australia, The Netherlands, and India have all successfully been able to install the Appstore and login using their existing user ID and password. It's possible that someone at Amazon pulled the trigger a little bit too early and the international Appstore isn't quite yet ready for primetime, so we've pinged our Amazon contacts to see if we can get the skinny on what's really going on here.

Update: We just received a statement from Amazon, and the word is... there is no word.

Thanks for reaching out. We have not announced any plans for international expansion.

So there you go -- they haven't announced any plans for it, but it's happening anyway. 

If you're outside the US and want to see if it works for you, go ahead and grab the Appstore download from here. Make sure to drop us a line with your location and whether or not you were able to successfully login in the comments!

[via The Digital Reader]