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Top 100: 7. Amazon

September 7, 2011

Amazon dropped from No. 3 on the 2010 list, but still remains a strong player in the retail world.

Amazon wrote the book on diversifying with ingenuity. The company generated an estimated $24 billion in revenue last year, and not simply through book sales, which it continues to dominate with the top e-book reader and iPhone reader apps, but also through its growing data storage and computing service. Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division of the Web retail company, is becoming a more important —and more lucrative — revenue driver for Amazon as more companies move their business-critical applications to the cloud.

Amazon Web Services revenue is set to reach $500 million in 2010. Although that represents just a sliver of Amazon's total business, UBS Investment Research analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald predict that Amazon Web Services could capture as much as $2.5 billion by 2014.

Among Amazon Web Services' firsts is the Amazon Cluster GPU Instances, which provides developers and businesses immediate access to the power of GPU processing in the cloud with no upfront investment or long-term commitment. Amazon also has added video streaming to its cloud-computing service, along with expanding video on demand in the online store, and offering immediate streaming access to customers who purchase select movies on Blu-ray or DVD.

Many of the best and most pervasive attributes of online shopping were either invented or perfected by Amazon. At one time, the idea of letting "ordinary people" post content on a corporate website was heretical, but what e-retailer in 2011 would dream of launching a site that did not include customer reviews? Or a recommendation system that keeps track of each customer's purchases, then suggests new items based on previous selections? Amazon got there first.

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