Amazon nets Shutterfly for photo services

Amazon.com has formed a new partnership with Shutterfly to provide online photo services to its customers, the companies said Monday.

Under the relationship, the two companies have built a co-branded Web site where consumers can get their digital photos turned into prints and share their images with others online. The services will also be offered through links on Amazon's homepage and its online electronics store.

The service will also sell items such as cards, calendars, mugs and T-shirts with photos scanned onto them. In addition, Amazon customers can create a free online album with two separate image collections that have no set storage limits and are maintained at a personalized Web address. The service also offers free image-editing tools.

Amazon executives said the partnership with Shutterfly is meant to help the company extend its reach into the online photography market and augment the retailer's business of selling digital cameras.

"Our customers have come to expect a superior shopping experience from Amazon.com and we believe, with the addition of Shutterfly's digital photography products and services, this will serve to enhance their shopping experience with us," Glenn Cunningham, vice president of Amazon's electronics store, said in a statement.

The photo services deal underscores Amazon's continued push to add services to get people coming back to its site for more than just books. Earlier this month the company introduced a beta version of a map service on its A9 search engine that allows people to see pictures of specific locales. The company is also believed to be working on an online digital music service and purchased CustomFlix, a DVD on-demand site, in mid-July.