Amazon Adds New Killer Web Service

I am a huge fan of Amazon’s Web Services that they have been slowly rolling out. So big a fan in fact, I am basing my own little startup venture around one of them, and now maybe two. Some time back, Amazon released S3 (Simple Storage Solution) which is an endless storage platform for business and regular users. The great thing though is that while it is endless, you only pay for what you use, and it is very very reasonable. I store like 20Gb of pictures on it and get a bill for @ $2.50 a month. My venture, MyDropBin, is basically a user friendly web front end for a users S3 storage space. It allows the ability to upload files and tag them as well as keep them in user defined folders accessible anywhere you have a connection. And soon there will be the ability to save dynamic data right from the web. But enough about that, this post is about a new service that really rounds out Amazons offerings.

It is called Amazon DevPay, and basically here is what it can do:

• Develop your software application using Amazon S3 or an Amazon EC2 Machine Image (AMI).
• Use the simple Amazon DevPay web interface to register your application or AMI with Amazon DevPay, provide a product description and configure your desired pricing.
• Embed the Amazon DevPay purchase pipeline link into your web site to allow your customers to purchase your product.
• Protect your application from unauthorized use by integrating with Amazon DevPay’s authentication mechanism.
• Monitor the money you are earning on the Amazon DevPay Activity page.

I have to admit I was waiting for a prescription when I saw this and sat riveted to my iPhone as I read about it. I know that they have recently released some other cool stuff, like the SimpleDB and a Flexible Payment System, but to me this is “IT”. For a one person, self funded startup, it is a service like this that makes it absolutely possible to build a viable web service and possible compete on a global scale. Amazon is making it so easy for me to build my vision and make it a reality using building blocks they are providing. I will now be able to integrate this quite easily and in a few small steps have a professional payment pipeline tied into my product, especially since it is another one of their services I have built upon.

This is basically an affiliate program for their web services. Now I can use their products and set pricing to include fees and overhead costs that are passed onto the users. Amazon tracks the users usages and charges and bills them directly and I get the difference dumped into my account. It could not be easier and I could not be happier nor more excited.