Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced today that they have launched the AWS Marketplace, and online store where AWS customers can shop for software and services in much the same way they would a book on Amazon. Customers will be able to search, compare, and use 1-click purchasing for products on the AWS Marketplace.

The AWS marketplace features developer tools, databases, and operating systems for use with AWS. Most products on the site are priced by hourly or monthly rates, and the charges will appear on customers’ normal AWS bill alongside other services. Also, since the billing services are managed by AWS, software developers selling their products on the marketplace will not have to worry about processing customer billing or managing customer accounts.

“AWS Marketplace brings the same simple, trusted, and secure online shopping experience that customers enjoy on Amazon.com’s retail website to software built for the AWS platform, streamlining the process of doing research and purchasing software,” said Terry Hanold, Vice President of New Business Initiatives at AWS. “AWS Marketplace makes it even easier to run software on AWS because you can find a wide variety of AWS ecosystem providers’ solutions, in one place, where much of the work involved in building and deploying solutions on top of AWS has already been done for you by these solutions providers.”

Amazon Web Services has been frequently rolling out updates and new initiatives lately. Just this past week AWS has launched a new CloudSearch service and a public beta for its new Partner Network platform. It looks as if Amazon Web Services is aiming to be an even bigger player in the competitive cloud platform market.

Have a look at this preview of the marketplace from AWS, and let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.