Search as Platform

Ok, just a quick post for now, until I more fully digest this. But this looks really cool.

Amazon, whose A9 search engine is cool but complex, has launched their Alexa Web Search Platform. Details via Battelle.

This is pretty cool stuff. If it works as it is advertising (a relatively big if, I suppose), it could dramatically lower the barrier to entry for Vertical Search Engines (like SimplyHired, for example). That would be pretty cool, because it would continue the shift away from technology and into community. It may also destroy some of these company/site’s business models, but it is not entirely clear they had one to start with.

This also solidifies the talk about Search as a new platform. Amazon has a lot of experience with this; by any measure their Web Services have been a huge success, and this merely extends their strength into new areas. The more people can build on this platform, the more people will naturally tend to bias their services towards Amazon.

Ok. I am starting to say things that everyone already knows. It’s late – sorry for the incoherence!

Let’s just agree that this is pretty cool, and we’ll think more clearly about why in the morning.