Amazon’s Alexa Opens Its Index To Developers For Customized Data

Alexa willl allow developers to request custom data as it spiders the web. The beta service, Alexa Web Search Platform, launched late Monday; it’s designed “to allow developers to build applications and/or services utilizing Alexa data.” The first 10,000 requests per month are free with additional requests at $0.15 for every 1,000 requests). Other charges cover storage, dedicated CPU use, etc. Users can add custom search fields and eventually will be able to build custom search engines without reinventing the wheel.
John Battelle: “In other words, Alexa and Amazon are turning the index inside out, and offering it as a web service that anyone can mashup to their hearts content. Entrepreneurs can use Alexa’s crawl, Alexa’s processors, Alexa’s server farm….the whole nine yards. … Will this be like A9, a groundbreaking development that fails to get traction with a wider audience? Or might this just start something?”

In today’s searchcentric, mash-up world, it just might be the start.

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