Amazon launches A9 web service

Search for a phrase on A9 and you will get web results and image results, powered by Google. Much has been made of A9 as a Google-killer, but it won't be as long as Google's technology is underlying.

A9 will also search the Internet Movie Database, IMDB.com for results, as well as giving reference results such as definitions and encyclopedic entries from GuruNet.

Where A9 really scores, however, is using Amazon's Search Inside the Book feature. Amazon have databased over 100,000 titles and made them fully searchable. Not only that, but you can view the page online as well.

Let us take you on a quick walk-through. For the full experience, you'll need an Amazon account. Go hit up A9.com and do a search for "the inquirer mike magee". Unsurprisingly, you'll find the inq as the top web result. Click on the Books tab on the right, and you'll see that the top book result is 'Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering'. Underneath that you'll see preview text from page 196, which references Mike. Click on the page 196 link and you'll actually be able to see the page from the book, on Amazon.com, that the reference appears in. Skip back to A9 and click the images tab, and you will spot Mike getting his hair cut. The movies tab will give you the filmography for our Mike (or possibly his namesake) and the Reference tab will give you weather results for Magee, MS. So perhaps a few bugs to be worked out there, then.

The interface looks and works like a dream, and avoids the cluttered, over-sponsored look of the Google results page. With a further expansion of Search Inside the Book and a little work on the speed of the page, A9 could swiftly become a browser's first destination. µ