Amazon has announced a new high-end e-reader, the Kindle Oasis, and is adding monthly payment options for its Amazon Prime service.
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Amazon must think it can pick up either video-only subscribers or new Prime subscribers by offering the services at monthly pricing. As part of the new monthly deal, Deadline notes that if youd like to may monthly for Prime instead of annually, you can buy in at $10.99 a month. The new options for subscribing to Amazon Prime show the US company is catering to customer calls for more flexible options than a year-long commitment.Amazon is exiting subscriptions from Amazon Prime by virtue of subscription offerings that are more generous.
Amazon is looking to grab video streamers who don’t necessarily need free 2-day shipping or unlimited photo storage by launching a video-only subscription service.
Amazon now permits users to subscribe to Amazon Prime Video independently from the remaining Amazon Prime. At $10.99 per month, monthly payers will end up shelling out $131.88.
Amazon says there are tens of millions of customers for Prime.
With this announcement of $8.99 for the basic Amazon Video service, the company is directly taking aim at rival Netflix, which will hike its basic service up to $9.99 per month beginning in a couple of weeks.
It’s quite possible that Amazon might separate its video and shipping services as two different subscriptions in the future, according to TechCrunch. This is a variation of paying the typical $99 upfront for an annual Prime membership, which is still available.
While it has been very successful, some consumers have resisted Amazon Prime because of the $99 up-front cost for an annual membership.
Amazon’s moves come as the company seeks a bigger chunk of the video streaming market. Well, if you are a dedicated Amazon Prime annual subscriber, the changes don’t stand to benefit you at all.
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Siglin also noted that Netflix is now also distributing its original content in some foreign countries as traditional one episode per week programs to take advantage of markets where its shows aren’t available for streaming.
