diff --git a/scrapy/contrib/spiderqueue.py b/scrapy/contrib/spiderqueue.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 82d77402f..000000000
--- a/scrapy/contrib/spiderqueue.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,81 +0,0 @@
-from zope.interface import implements
-
-from twisted.internet import threads
-from boto.sqs.connection import SQSConnection
-from boto.sqs.message import Message
-from boto.sqs import regions
-
-from scrapy.interfaces import ISpiderQueue
-from scrapy.utils.py26 import json
-
-class SQSSpiderQueue(object):
-
-    implements(ISpiderQueue)
-
-    def __init__(self, *a, **kw):
-        self.queue_name = kw.pop('queue_name', 'scrapy')
-        self.region_name = kw.pop('region_name', 'us-east-1')
-        self.visibility_timeout = kw.pop('visibility_timeout', 7200)
-        self.aws_access_key_id = kw.pop('aws_access_key_id', None)
-        self.aws_secret_access_key = kw.pop('aws_secret_access_key', None)
-        self.region = self._get_region(self.region_name)
-        self.conn.create_queue(self.queue_name)
-        super(SQSSpiderQueue, self).__init__(*a, **kw)
-
-    @classmethod
-    def from_settings(cls, settings):
-        return cls(
-            queue_name=settings['SQS_QUEUE'],
-            region_name=settings['SQS_REGION'],
-            visibility_timeout=settings.getint('SQS_VISIBILITY_TIMEOUT'),
-            aws_access_key_id=settings['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'],
-            aws_secret_access_key=settings['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY']
-        )
-        
-    def _get_region(self, name):
-        return [r for r in regions() if r.name == name][0]
-
-    @property
-    def conn(self):
-        return SQSConnection(self.aws_access_key_id, self.aws_secret_access_key, \
-            region=self.region)
-
-    @property
-    def queue(self):
-        return self.conn.get_queue(self.queue_name)
-
-    def _queue_method(self, method, *a, **kw):
-        return getattr(self.queue, method)(*a, **kw)
-
-    def pop(self):
-        return threads.deferToThread(self._pop)
-
-    def _pop(self):
-        msgs = self.queue.get_messages(1, visibility_timeout=self.visibility_timeout)
-        if msgs:
-            msg = msgs[0]
-            msg.delete()
-            return json.loads(msg.get_body())
-
-    def add(self, name, **spider_args):
-        d = spider_args.copy()
-        d['name'] = name
-        msg = Message(body=json.dumps(d))
-        return threads.deferToThread(self._queue_method, 'write', msg)
-
-    def count(self):
-        return threads.deferToThread(self._queue_method, 'count')
-
-    def list(self):
-        return threads.deferToThread(self._list)
-
-    def _list(self):
-        msgs = []
-        m = self.queue.read(visibility_timeout=100)
-        while m:
-            msgs.append(json.loads(m.get_body()))
-            m = self.queue.read(visibility_timeout=100)
-        return msgs
-
-    def clear(self):
-        return threads.deferToThread(self._queue_method, 'clear')
diff --git a/scrapy/tests/test_contrib_spiderqueue.py b/scrapy/tests/test_contrib_spiderqueue.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 6b1e95b05..000000000
--- a/scrapy/tests/test_contrib_spiderqueue.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-from twisted.trial import unittest
-from zope.interface.verify import verifyObject
-
-from scrapy.interfaces import ISpiderQueue
-from scrapy.utils.test import assert_aws_environ
-
-class SQSSpiderQueueTest(unittest.TestCase):
-
-    def setUp(self):
-        assert_aws_environ()
-
-    def test_interface(self):
-        from scrapy.contrib.spiderqueue import SQSSpiderQueue
-        verifyObject(ISpiderQueue, SQSSpiderQueue())
-
-    # XXX: testing SQS queue operations is hard because there are long delays
-    # for the operations to complete