In a move that suggested that Amazon was looking to more-directly compete with other monthly-charged streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu, the company recently unveiled a new pricing option for their Amazon Prime service. Some users were seeing an option to signup for a free trial, which would then turn into a $7.99 a month plan.
Until that new pricing option appeared, Amazon Prime had only been available at the $79 a year price tag.
Well, you can say goodbye to that option. Less than two weeks after Amazon began testing that subscription style, the company has axed it.
“We regularly test new options for our customers. At this time, we’ve completed our test and are no longer signing up new customers for Amazon Prime monthly memberships,” they told All Things D.
So it’s clear that it was only a test.
A subscription to Amazon Prime not only includes access the streaming video catalog, but also the Kindle Owners Lending Library and free two-day shipping on products. Although $7.99 a month would turn out to be more in the end (if you kept it for a year), that plan was more flexible, allowing customers to subscribe to the service without making a (fairly substantial) $79 commitment all at once.