Amazon Enters Search Engine Market

Amazon has just dived into the crowded sea of search engines by announcing that it is in the planning and testing stages for A9, their too be released search solution.

As Amazon has evolved into the major web entity for purchasing all products, not just books, they have realized the power of releasing their own major search engine. Increasingly, Web shoppers buy products through retailers they found by conducting Web searches, rather than by going directly to retailers’ sites.

“We will start up in October with about 30 people and expect to grow significantly over time” states Amazon. A9 says its software will be aimed specifically at online shoppers, not users who want to perform general search requests for things such as sports statistics or news.

This is a modern version of cutting out the middle man, since the amount of targeted consumer traffic sent to Amazon via Google, Yahoo, and other search entities is enormous.

Related News Blurbs

Google, Amazon in a war of search words- CNet

Google and Amazon.com are fighting for top computer scientists on Google’s home turf: search results.

When Web surfers use Google to search on the name “Udi Manber,” who is president of Amazon’s newly formed search unit, A9.com, they’ll find the first result is an ad for jobs at Google.

Amazon Sets Out on Search Quest

Apparently recognizing the same market opportunity as the major search players, Amazon.com has moved to establish a wholly owned subsidiary that will work on ways to use search to drive shoppers to its site.

According to the company, Udi Manber, a former Yahoo executive hired last year, will oversee the venture known as A9. The company will be based in Northern California and is moving quickly to hire as many as 30 employees in the backyards of search leaders Yahoo and Google.