Amazon raises cost of Prime to $99

[fronk777]

From USA Today....

That Amazon Prime membership is going to get more expensive.

The online retail giant revealed it is raising the price of an annual subscription to Prime from $79 to $99. The price for the student version of Prime will also rise to $49.

Amazon Prime is an annual subscription service that offers free two-day shipping on select items, access to a host of free videos through the streaming service Amazon Instant Video and access to the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library used to borrow books.

Shares of Amazon are up more than 2% in early trading following news of the price increase.

The price increase was first reported by Cnet.

Amazon first hinted at a price increase for Prime in January during its fourth-quarter earnings call, when the company also revealed its shipping costs surged 19% to $1.21 billion.

Last month, a survey from Bizrate Insights conducted after Amazon’s quarterly call found many Prime users would consider canceling their subscription if the price was raised.

They just said it on their discussions after the Amazon Earnings were reported....ouch :X