As expected, online retail giant Amazon has raised the price of its Prime membership, although it is not as high as some reports predicted.
Amazon said on Thursday that the price of the basic Amazon Prime service will go up to $99. At the moment, the service includes free two-day shipping on all items, access to the Kindle Library and the Prime Instant Video streaming service. Current members will be charged the new price when their current year is up.
The Prime Student membership will go up to $49. Prime Fresh, which includes food delivery in San Francisco and Los Angeles, will stay at $299.
Back in January, it was reported that Amazon would raise the price of Prime. It was initially only $79 a year, but some reports suggested that it could go up as much as $119. Instead, Amazon elected to only raise the price by $20.
The price jump may reflect Amazon’s wishes to expand its services. There have been reports that the company wants to add a streaming music service. In addition, there have been persistent rumors that it will offer its own set-top TV device like a Roku.
Also, back in December, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos said that a drone delivery service may be launched within five years.
image: screenshot from Amazon.com