The @Bean annotation is used to indicate that a method instantiates, configures, and initializes a new object to be managed by the Spring IoC container. @Bean is most often used with @Configuration beans. Annotating a class with @Configuration indicates that its primary purpose is as a source of bean definitions.
While a name() attribute is available, the default strategy for determining the name of a bean is to use the name of the @Bean method.
@Bean was created to avoid coupling Spring and your business rules in compile time. It means you can reuse your business rules in other frameworks like PlayFramework or JEE.
@Configuration is meta-annotated with @Component, therefore @Configuration classes are candidates for component scanning and therefore may also take advantage of @Autowired/@Inject like any regular @Component.
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