What is Amazon?

 Amazon (Amazon.com) is the world's largest online retailer and a prominent cloud service provider.

Originally started as an online bookselling company, Amazon has morphed into an internet-based business enterprise that is largely focused on providing e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming and artificial intelligence (AI) services.

Following an Amazon-to-buyer sales approach, the company offers a monumental product range and inventory, enabling consumers to buy just about anything, including clothing, beauty supplies, gourmet food, jewelry, books, movies, electronics, pet supplies, furniture, toys, garden supplies and household goods.

Headquartered in Seattle, Amazon has individual websites, software development centers, customer service centers, data centers and fulfillment centers around the world.

History and timeline of Amazon

Amazon has come a long way since it was founded by Jeff Bezos in his garage in Bellevue, Wash., on July 5, 1994.

The following is a brief history and timeline of events that have evolved Amazon from its humble beginnings to a multinational business empire.

The 1990s

Amazon officially opened for business as an online bookseller on July 16, 1995. Originally, Bezos had incorporated the company as Cadabra but later changed the name to Amazon. Bezos is said to have browsed a dictionary for a word beginning with A for the value of alphabetic placement. He selected the name Amazon because it was exotic and different and as a reference to his plan for the company's size to reflect that of the Amazon River, one of the largest rivers in the world. Since its inception, the company's motto has always been "get big fast."

The 2000s

2005, Amazon Prime This membership-based service for Amazon customers offers free two-day shipping within the contiguous U.S., as well as streaming, shopping and reading benefits. According to Amazon's website, current Amazon Prime membership rates are $14.99 a month or $139 per year.

Amazon Web Services

This comprehensive and evolving cloud computing platform was also born in the 2000s. The first Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings were launched in 2006 to provide online services for websites and client-side applications. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) are the backbones of the company's growing collection of web services. The same year, Amazon also launched a cloud computing and video-on-demand service known at the time as Unbox.