Amazon Web Services Launches AWS Marketplace

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched the AWS Marketplace for developers to sell their products to customers of the cloud computing platform.

Customers will be able to use software immediately and developers will benefit from a readymade audience and billing services.

Simplification

Amazon says that the marketplace will be easily navigable and preconfigured software can be deployed with just one click. Customers will only be charged for what they use, on either an hourly and monthly basis, and will be charged on their normal AWS bill.

Relieving developers of the responsibility of managing customer accounts and processing payments through AWS’s billing system is just one of the many advantages that Amazon is touting. It claims that the marketplace simplifies many of the traditional challenges that software and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies face, such as acquiring customers and developing distributing channels, leaving developers with more time to focus on their software.

“AWS Marketplace brings the same simple, trusted, and secure online shopping experience that customers enjoy on Amazon.com’s retail website to software built for the AWS platform, streamlining the process of doing research and purchasing software,” said Terry Hanold, vice president of New Business Initiatives at AWS.

The marketplace will feature software from developers such as IBM, Microsoft, SAP as well as open source applications such as Drupal, MediaWiki and WordPress.

“AWS Marketplace provides companies like ours an opportunity to easily reach new customers,” said Carolee Gearhart of SAP. “We expect our customers will benefit from SAP’s robust BI functionality, while taking advantage of the quick deployment capabilities provided by AWS Marketplace.”

Amazon has reduced the prices of its cloud platform in recent months and launched AWS Storage Gateway in an effort to attract new customers.

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