difference between @Component and @Configuration in Spring 3

Question

I came across two annotations provided by Spring 3 (@Component and @Configuration) I am a bit confused between these.
Here is what I read about @Component

Answer 1

Although this is old, but elaborating on JavaBoy And Vijay's answers, with an example:

@Configuration
public class JavaConfig {
    @Bean
    public A getA() {
        return new A();
    }
}

@Component
@ComponentScan(basePackages="spring.example")
public class Main() {
    @Bean
    public B getB() {
        return new B();
    }
    @Autowired
    JavaConfig config;

    public static void main(String[]a) {
        Main m = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(Main.class)
            .getBean(Main.class);
        /* Different bean returned everytime on calling Main.getB() */
        System.out.println(m.getB());
        System.out.println(m.getB());
        /* Same bean returned everytime on calling JavaConfig.getA() */
        System.out.println(m.config.getA());
        System.out.println(m.config.getA());
    }
}