Win the "Amazon Web Services Start-up Challenge" and Receive $100,000 in Cash and Service Credits Plus an Investment Offer from Amazon.com.

Race to Build the Next Promising Business Using AWS Begins Today

SEATTLE -- Amazon Web Services LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today launched the Amazon Web Services Start-Up Challenge, a contest for entrepreneurs and software developers that will award the winner a first prize of $50,000 in cash, $50,000 in Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits, mentoring sessions from an AWS technical expert, and an investment offer from Amazon.com. Four second-place winners will receive $5,000 in AWS credits and all qualified contestants receive up to $25 towards AWS service credits during the contest to start building their new business. Contestants will be evaluated on the originality and promise of their venture, and the degree to which the business leverages the pay-as-you-go technology solutions offered by Amazon Web Services. Developers and entrepreneurs can learn more about AWS and the Start-Up Challenge, and can start building the winning idea today at http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge. Entries are due no later than 11:59 P.M. (PT) on October 28, 2007.

"Of the many things that have surprised us along the way, perhaps the biggest has been how quickly so many start-ups have started using AWS. The fact that our services have no up-front costs and are pay-as-you go allows small businesses to focus on innovating and growing, instead of on raising capital and engaging in the heavy lifting needed to build out a back-end infrastructure," said Adam Selipsky, Vice President of Product Development and Developer Relations, Amazon Web Services. "We're continuing to see how these Web Scale services level the playing field for entrepreneurs and start-ups, and the AWS Start-Up Challenge is intended both to encourage more people to pursue their ideas and to give an additional jumpstart to the winners."

AWS gives businesses access to in-the-cloud services based on Amazon's own back-end technology infrastructure to enable virtually any type of business. Services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) make it possible for any business to reach the scale of major internet players such as Amazon.com, but without the expensive price tag these companies must pay to build and maintain such reliable, secure, and scalable infrastructure. Developers and entrepreneurs can use AWS to achieve this level of web scale with zero up-front investment and low, pay-as-you-go pricing.

"Amazon Web Services has been the key component of our infrastructure from day one. Using AWS allows me to worry less about infrastructure and spend more time focusing on development, which has helped Geezeo come as far as it has in such a short amount of time," said Peter Glyman, Co-Founder, Geezeo, a web based social finance application that helps users make educated financial decisions.

Contestants must submit the online application form by October 28, 2007. Five finalists will be announced in early November. Each finalist will be profiled in an online video viewable on the AWS website where registered Amazon Web Services developers can let the judges know who their favorite contestant is by voting. The finalists will present their business ideas in December to a panel of Amazon executives at Amazon headquarters in Seattle and meet with various Amazon technical teams. An awards dinner attended by venture capitalist firms and Amazon leadership will be held that night, and the winner will be announced publicly the following day. The finalists will also have an opportunity before the awards dinner to present their ideas to the venture capitalist firms.

Eligible Start-Up Challenge contestants need to be individuals who are legal residents of the U.S. or privately-held companies based in the U.S. that have not generated more than $10 million in annual revenue. Business ideas submitted for the contest must use fee-based solutions offered by AWS, such as Amazon S3 and EC2 (see contest details for list of eligible services). A complete description of the prizes and contest rules can be found at http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge.

About Amazon Web Services LLC

Launched in July 2002, Amazon Web Services exposes technology from Amazon.com and its affiliates that enable developers to build their own online businesses. More than 265,000 developers have signed up to use Amazon Web Services since its inception. Amazon Web Services LLC is an Amazon.com company. More information is available at http://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as health and personal care, jewelry and watches, gourmet food, sports and outdoors, apparel and accessories, books, music, DVDs, electronics and office, toys and baby, and home and garden.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and www.joyo.com.

As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our," and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statement 

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, significant amount of indebtedness, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and all subsequent filings.