Following up from a discussion in our team (and in the wider community) about how can you make real money from a Web 2.0 focused site, there's a tool that's surprisingly not been heavily publicised but that could be an answer for the developer community. Seemingly the majority of Web 2.0 start-ups are focused on rapid growth and attracting external funding to support the business.

However a new service from Amazon attempts to focus on the bricks and mortar Web 2.0 businesses. Through Amazon DevPay, developers can start to earn revenue almost after a customer uses their application. This isn't to say that attracting venture capital can't be an excellent way - just that through DevPay, there's an almost immediate payback for developers, there's a greater chance of attracting Venture Capital (VC) and it's only a limited number of businesses that attract and truly capitalise on VC funding.

As with Google Friend Connect, it's another Limited Beta release. Amazon describes their product as "a simple-to-use billing and account management service that makes it easy for developers to get paid for applications they build on Amazon Web Services.". They claim that it, "removes the pain of having to create or manage your own order pipeline or billing system. It allows you to quickly sign up customers, automatically meter their usage of AWS services, have Amazon bill them based on pricing you set, and collect payments. Amazon DevPay provides a simple web interface for pricing your application based on any combination of up-front, recurring and usage-based fees.".

DevPay can be used by the owner of any website to collect revenue however its real benefit will be for developers of Web 2.0 applications. Developers can obviously create their own e-commerce site to charge however this service makes it so easy (in addition to providing a host of ways to charge for your service) especially as developers can use the pay as you use based fee structure. Although a few developers will be able to achieve their fortune through acquisition, it allows them to significantly undercut the existing pay per product software and applications developers out there. It also allows a true revenue model for applications distributed on social networks.

My thoughts - this could be the next 'silent killer' allowing innovative developers and Web 2.0 application builders and owners to quietly charge a minimal amount for their product on a per instance basis. A product that would typically sell for £20.00 could be sold for a few pence on a per use basis. There would be minimal barriers to the sale and at that price point, the sale is much more likely to be converted. Amazon takes care of the transaction and obviously, takes an additional small commission. If priced aggressively, the consumer could view the purchase as the deal of the century.

Even if it doesn't fuel a revolution, it's certainly a method that all Web 2.0 applications and software companies should consider. Whether it's sustainable is another question though but it'll certainly stimulate competition.

Published by Chris Haresign