Amazon is preparing to unveil a new Netflix-like ebook and audiobook subscription service called Kindle Unlimited, GigaOM is reporting.
Based on now removed images pulled from the Amazon site, Kindle Unlimited is slated to offer “unlimited access to over 600,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just $9.99 a month.” These titles appear to include Life of Pi, The Hunger Games series, Capital and the Harry Potter series.
Kindle Unlimited would compete directly against existing ebook subscription services like Scribd ($8.99 per month) and Oyster ($9.99 per month). All three offer a competitively sized selection of titles from the same publishers, which means there’s likely to be a lot of overlap between them. Amazon’s subscription service will also have heavy overlap with titles offered through the company’s Kindle Owner’s Lending Library program for Amazon Prime subscribers.
There is no word yet on when – or if – Amazon plans to officially launch its Kindle Unlimited service. We’ll keep you updated when they do.
Update (July 18): Amazon has officially launched Kindle Unlimited in the United States. As reported earlier, the service offers over 600,000 ebooks (including "hundreds of thousands" of Kindle exclusives) and over 2,000 audiobooks. It also includes a free three-month subscription to audiobook service Audible and its seamless ebook-to-audiobook Whispersync feature.
If you're interested, you can give Kindle Unlimited a 30-day free trial by heading over to the Amazon website.
