Amazon has some new goodies for Prime members today. They’ve just introduced a new unlimited reading library for Prime members called Prime Reading that grants access to a free selection of Kindle books, magazines, and other content. No Kindle required; a Kindle reading app is all you need.
Prime members also currently have access to an exclusive, limited-time deal on Kindle ereaders that takes up to $50 off.
The Kindle Voyage is actually in on the sale for a change and it’s the one being discounted the most. It’s marked down by $50 and starts at $149.
The Kindle Paperwhite is on sale as well. It’s marked down by $30, starting at $89 for the Wi-Fi model.
The entry-level Kindle Touch is being discounted by $30 too. It’s only $49.
Even if you’re not a current Prime member, the prices are low enough that you could buy a 1 month subscription to Amazon Prime for $10.99 and still get a considerable discount.
Plus they pretty much never have sales on the Kindle Voyage for non Prime members, and when then do put the Paperwhite on sale it’s usually $99 for regular customers so with the $89 Prime price it’s only the difference of one dollar.
Could this be Amazon feeling the hit from the success of the Aura One and enticing people away from Kobo by heavily discounting their Kindles? This is a curious move since it isn’t Prime day nor Black Friday nor any other Holiday for that matter. And as much as I like the Voyage aesthetically, it still suffers from uneven lighting and two-tone hues on its display.
I honestly don’t think Amazon cares what Kobo does anymore. The Prime deals are for US customers only and Kobo has no presence in the US anymore and seems to have very little interest in marketing there, so it’s two different markets. Last year a report showed that Kobo only had 3% of the ebook market share in the US. And Amazon rarely discounts Kindles in Canada so they don’t seem to care much about displacing Kobo.
I have to think that if Amazon considered Kobo even a mild threat they would just buy it – how much of a dent could it possibly make in that $400B market cap?
But maybe they prefer the token competition to keep the antitrust police happy – kind of like the Intel/AMD sham?
Anyway, the books on this new Prime deal look like a bunch of past BookBub freebies. The magazines might appeal to some people though…
Kobo recently got bought out by Japanese company Rakuten and from the looks of it by judging the Kobo Aura One, they have big plans the store.
So what is the difference between Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited?
The selection overlaps. Prime Reading is basically a lite version of Kindle Unlimited.