Amazon is reportedly testing a new subscription service dubbed Kindle Unlimited in the e-books front, which lets users read unlimited e-books for a monthly subscription of $9.99.
The company accidentally or intentionally put up the app on Amazon store briefly, however, long enough to be cached. The test page said that the subscription service includes titles like Life of Pi, Water for Elephants, etc.
Amazon is rumoured to be in talks with some major publishers about partnering to provide books for the service. The Kindle Unlimited service is expected to offer about 600,000 e-books including audio books. Book lovers, however, will have to wait for it as there is no information as to when the company will launch the service which is still in the testing phase.
Although Scribd offers a similar service for a subscription of $8.99, it only offers roughly 400,000. Recently Scribd made some interesting changes to its interface with better library management tools.
Dan Olds, an analyst from The Gabriel Consulting Group said that the service could be a “huge game changer” in the publishing industry as it has the potential to change the whole economic model of the industry. He also noted that there could be problems like concluding a compensation model that would benefit both small and large publishers and those who use only Amazon for their distribution.
While the Kindle Unlimited is claimed to help save money spent on books for readers, it will also open doors for a huge sum of money to flow into Amazon Kindle. Olds added that it could spark a competition among other e-book publishers, however it is going to be a long way for them to compete with Amazon which is teeming with books from popular authors and publishers.
