Amazon wants to be like Netflix

Amazon is joining Netflix in the ‘all-you-can-eat’ model. It will start in the US market, where Kindle (device or app) customers will be able to sign up for this service. The initial offering starts with 600,000+ titles. It is the ongoing battle between the content providers and content distributors.

Many publishers are very unhappy with the control Amazon (and Apple) have over distribution and pricing; therefore are not part of this project. Amazon has to defend its territory from the likes of Oyster Books or Scribd.

These new companies were able to strike deals with the other publishers. Amazon is now playing catch up with these companies, in turn disrupting its own business model. Amazon is now getting a taste of its own medicine (when it went after the brick & mortar competition).

Amazon will have to come up with additional value to keep the competition at bay. Price, selection and digital delivery are no longer differentiating factors; it may be time for Amazon to start creating its own original content, taking its future direction from Netflix’s success.