Amazon launches "AWS IoT" Internet of Things service

Amazon already has a cloud business called Amazon Web Services, already one of the most popular in the world. The company has just launched a new service called AWS IoT, which aims to help customers build applications and devices that connect via the Internet of Things.

According to Amazon, the service will allow vehicles, health care systems, factory floors and household gadgets connect to cloud services, the company said this week. Amazon isn’t wasting time either – the first version of the service was ready to use from Thursday, said the company’s CTO Werner Vogels at its re:Invent event held in the US earlier in the week.

Amazon also said that the cloud connection will be fast, and lightweight, which means it should be ideal for low-powered devices that have limited memory and battery life for example.

So just why is Amazon launching AWS IoT? According to market research by company’s such as IDC, the market for Internet-connected devices will reach more than $1.7 trillion by 2020, and companies such as Intel, Cisco and Google are already investing billions in the technology that will help them take a slice of that revenue over the next few years.

Amazon says that customers will just pay for what they use, and there are no minimum charges for the AWS IoT service. Instead, pricing will be based on how many “messages” are sent between a device and the cloud, with 250,000 free messages per month for 12 months. Pricing starts off at $5 for a million messages.

Amazon also provides AWS IoT start kits, design to “help accelerate cloud-powered prototype development of connect devices and connect securely to AWS IoT”.

Over the coming years, the Internet of Things looks set become a daily reality for many of us, and Amazon already looks poised to become one of the key players in a market that looks set to explode.

You can watch the full Amazon re:Invent keynote here.