That is all well and good for the developers and consumers, but what are the companies getting out of these new arrangements? The move has actually been burdensome to Google, overloading its servers on particular queries at times, and could take away traffic from the company's Website. Neither Amazon nor Google will comment about their plans for Web services because they are in such early stages, but both companies apparently think that the idea is worth trying out for the possibility of creating new opportunities in the future. Already, some say, their experiments are showing signs of fundamentally changing how people shop or do research online. "Individuals outside the company, the customers, gain even more power than they already had," said Erik Benson, a developer who has created some tools using both the Google and Amazon APIs. "Now, not only do we have all the feedback mechanisms created by the Internet, but we can also physically create the features that we want a company to make, without having to wait for a business case, a lengthy development process, or anything else other than our own learning curve." And that, the companies hope, will translate to more business in the long run -- for little cost right now. "In a way, Amazon and Google are outsourcing their user interface development, with the developers working for free," said Alex Shapiro, chief technology officer of TouchGraph, a developer of Web applications. "In exchange for letting others easily access their data, these companies perpetuate their brand, spread good vibrations through the developer community, and allow others to experiment with all kinds of innovative solutions without taking on any risk. In turn, the developer gets to act as the portal to Google's/Amazon's data, thereby benefiting through the advertisement for whatever tangential services that they offer." Shapiro wrote an application that lets Web surfers browse data through a unique graphical interface, as opposed to a list. The feature has been applied to both the Google and Amazon databases, presenting intriguing pictures of how books and Websites connect with one another. Google launched its program in April, allowing developers to sign up for a key to use its service, although it specifies that it can be used only for non-commercial applications. Google also provides discussion boards for developers to help one another. "People have been trying for a long time to use Google as a Web service anyway," Minar said. "We felt it was a good way to provide that." Another application combines the Amazon service with a Weblogger API to let users create a link to an Amazon product page on a Weblog in just one step. Amazon launched its Web services program in July. Its initiative is tied to the company's "Associates" program, which allows people to place links to Amazon on their sites and get a cut of any resulting sales. One developer has created an entire store on the Web using Amazon's service. The store looks like a standard camera shop, with product descriptions, comparison pages and a search function, all of which come from Amazon's catalogue. For Amazon, the allure of such arrangements is easy to see. No matter how the Web service is used, it comes back to one thing: a link to Amazon's product page. Click that link, and the customers using the Web service can then go buy the book, CD or movie they've been reading about. "(It's) starting to drive unit sales, but it's very early in the process," Amazon's Bryar said. "We're getting feedback that it's a more effective way to drive unit sales. It increases clickthroughs for our associates, which in turn sells products, and the associates are getting more money." Moreover, if the Amazon Web service becomes the standard for any book-related application, the company's reach will spread even further. "If people (become interested in a product) not by going to a retail site but by going through a Website, then the retailer who's under that application is going to capture those sales," said Frank Gillett, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. "You're not going to stop what you're doing and go find another retailer to buy the product."
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