Items tagged with prime
The primary perk of Amazon's subscription Prime membership is free two-day shipping on millions of qualifying items, though there are now a host of other benefits—unlimited access to a catalog of movies, TV shows, and songs; unlimited photo storage; and so forth. Expedited shipping is still the hallmark feature, though, and Amazon has plans of shortening it even further. "We're currently working on evolving our Prime free two-day shipping program to be a free one-day shipping program," Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky recently said during a first quarter earnings call. That seems like a difficult task. It's at least ambitious, though Olsavsky says Amazon can pull this off because...
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Amazon has announced a new perk for Prime customers that worry about potential package theft, due to random arrival times. The new feature is called Amazon Day, and while it sounds like some sort of special sale, it essentially gives customers the ability to choose the specific day of the week when packages should arrive. Amazon Day is an invite-only program for now, and it's not clear how exactly one gets an invite to participate. Customers invited to the service get to pick a specific day of the week for delivery of ordered items at checkout, and unless manually changed, that day will be when all of your orders arrive moving forward. Shoppers will be able to select a different...
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Amazon has proven that shoppers are interested in signing up for Prime memberships that save them on shipping charges in a big way. So far, most benefits of Prime have been in the virtual world with shipping discounts and streaming video, but that has changed with new Whole Foods discounts for members. Whole Foods, owned by Amazon, has now debuted a loyalty program that offers Prime members special discounts in the store. The Prime discounts include 10% off sale items and weekly specials that rotate. An example of one of those weekly rotating specials recently was $10 off per pound of wild-caught halibut steaks. The catch is that right now the Prime member discounts are reportedly only available...
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Amazon may have had an 'Aha!' moment, and that could be bad news for FedEx and UPS, the two delivery services the online retailer leans on to ship packages to customers in a timely manner—within two days on many items, for Prime members. In what could be a damaging blow (another one) to both shipping companies, Amazon has begun testing its own delivery service for items that qualify for free two-day shipping, on so-called last-mile routes. This does not mean that Amazon would cut FedEx and UPS loose entirely, though it would push the world's largest online retailer deeper into the same category—shipping services. This is something Amazon kicked off two years ago in India and has been slowly trying...
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Being an Amazon Prime member has a bunch of perks, not the least of which is free two-day shipping on millions of qualifying items. However, it's become much more than a free-shipping program over the years. Members get unlimited streaming access to select movies and TV shows (Prime Video), ad-free access to more than a million songs (Prime Music), and a whole lot more. On top of all, Amazon today yet another perk called Prime Reading. Prime Reading is a great addition for bookworms. With Prime Reading, Prime members can enjoy unlimited reading from a rotating selection of books, magazines, comics, and more. And like the many other benefits to the Prime membership program, there's no additional...
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Drones aren't the only thing taking flight with Amazon's Prime branding plastered on the side. The world's largest online retailer now has its first ever branded cargo plane, a Boeing 767-300 that's operated by Amazon's air cargo provider Atlas Air. Amazon unveiled the aircraft during Seafair's Air Show in its hometown of Seattle. The airplane is named Amazon One. It's one of 40 that Amazon committed to leasing through air cargo partners Atlas Air and ATSG. As of right now there are 11 dedicated airplanes taking flight for Amazon with more to roll out over time. "Creating an air transportation network is expanding our capacity to ensure great delivery speeds for our Prime members for years to...
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Amazon believes its library of online movies and TV shows is rich enough that it can challenge Netflix for streaming supremacy and so it now offers Prime Video as a standalone service. This is a first for Prime Video, which prior to today was strictly a supplemental perk of being an Amazon Prime member. A subscription to just Prime Video runs $8.99 per month. Netflix's most popular streaming plan runs $7.99 per month and allows for streaming on up to two devices at the same time, though the price is jumping to $9.99 next month. When it does, Amazon's Prime Video service will be a dollar cheaper, plus it includes 4K Ultra HD video content. That's not included on Netflix's "Standard" $9.99 plan—you...
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Based on personal experience, Amazon Prime is pretty awesome. It's loaded with perks that go above and beyond the free two-day shipping that's offered on millions of items, though that's still the main benefit. I'm a also a Sprint subscriber, and if you're one too, you can subscribe to Amazon Prime through an add-on plan that runs $10.99 per month. Seems like a strange partnership, doesn't it? I'll admit there's a certain convenience to consolidating two separate payments (mobile phone and Amazon Prime) into a single monthly bill. There's also the benefit of spreading out your Amazon Prime membership fee into monthly chunks, and that seems to be the angle Sprint is pitching, along with how well...
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Remember when being a Prime member at Amazon simply meant free two-day shipping on qualified items? That perk in and of itself made the Prime membership worth it, but rather than stop there, Amazon has continually added more reasons to consider joining, the latest of which is a 20 percent discount on new games.This is a pretty big deal for gamers. Exclusive to Prime members, Amazon will shave 20 percent off new physical video game purchases during the pre-order phase and extending through two weeks after the title's release. Already have a game on pre-order? Fret not, Amazon's doing its Prime members a solid by automatically extending the discount to all of their existing pre-orders. That's deserving...
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Imagine you've just finished doing your business in the bathroom only to find an empty roll of toilet paper. It's at that point an unsettling fact dons on you -- you forgot to pick up another package of rolls when you were at the store. Uh oh, spaghetti-o! This unfortunate situation can be avoided with Amazon's Dash Button program, which incidentally is now open to all Prime Members.If this is the first you're hearing of Amazon Dash, it's a way for you to reorder select products through Amazon with the press of a button. The labeled button is a Wi-Fi connected device that, once you configure and connect to your wireless network, will automatically place an order for the product it's tied to whenever...
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In another sign that the online competition between Amazon and Walmart is heating up, Walmart took Amazon to task on its blog today for its upcoming sale. Amazon has been heavily promoting what it calls Prime Day (July 15th), which will feature loads of sales available only to Amazon Prime members. In a tongue-in-cheek spoof of Amazon’s Prime Day ad, Walmart points out that it doesn’t charge customers a fee for access to its prices. But Walmart is going a step further by launching what it calls “atomic deals” this week. “We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale,” Walmart president and CEO Fernando Madeira wrote in a blog post today. “But the idea of...
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Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, and while that's not likely to change, Amazon is going to give it a run for the money on Wednesday, July 15, the eve of its 20th anniversary. Dubbed "Prime Day," Amazon promises to offer more deals than Black Friday, though you have to be a Prime member in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Ital, Germany, France, Canada, or Austria to participate. The global shopping event is valid to both new and existing Prime members. Those who are signed up with Prime will see enticing deals kick off at midnight, with new deals appearing as often as every ten minutes. There will be thousands of "Lightning deals" plus seven popular Deals of the Day, all...
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Adding to the pile of awesome already heaped onto Amazon Prime memberships, the e-tailer this week introduced Prime Photos, which is yet another tantalizing benefit for Prime subscribers. In this case, Prime Photos provides free unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive, so the only restrictions you have to worry about are those imposed by your ISP. "This time of year in particular, families are capturing thousands of photos of holiday parties, family gatherings and opening presents," said Greg Greeley, Vice President Amazon Prime. "With free unlimited photo storage, we’re providing one more reason for members to use Prime every day. Prime has always allowed members to conveniently...
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Amazon pulled off a bit of a coup last month when it an inked a three-year deal with HBO worth $300 million to stream older HBO programming on Prime Instant Video. The deal marked the first time HBO has ever agreed to let another company stream its shows, and that will remain the case for the next three years as part of the exclusive agreement. Today, Amazon rolled out the first wave of HBO programming. The list of HBO content is broken up into categories. Classic series added to Prime Instant Video include The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Rome, and Six Feet Under. More recent series include Eastbound & Down, Enlightened, and Flight of the Conchords. Select seasons of current series...
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Amazon is holding a press event on April 2nd, and it appears likely that the announcement will be the oft-rumored and long-awaited streaming video set-top box. Or at least, something pertaining to living room entertainment. The image that Amazon sent along with the invitation is a shot of a couch littered with a few kernels of popcorn. “Please join us for an update on our video business,” reads the tag line. It’s not hard to connect the dots. Now, what exactly Amazon might unveil for the living room is still a bit of a question mark. It could just be another streaming box like the Roku, Apple TV, or others, but that seems like a relatively uninteresting route already well-traveled...
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Amazon's Prime service has gained a lot of traction from avid users who appreciate quick shipping and discounted overnight options, but what about the other aspects? Prime customers also have access to free books and video streaming, though outside bandwidth reports suggest that many don't take advantage of those perks -- at least in comparison to Netflix streaming. As if a good deal needed to get any better, the company is now reportedly looking into the feasibility of adding music streaming to the mix. With Spotify, Beats, Pandora, and plenty more soaking up monthly fees from those who want to stream music and listen offline on their mobile devices, Amazon sees an opportunity to convert its...
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Tonight on CBS' "60 Minutes," Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, sat down for an extended interview. Amazon is an online superstore that has morphed into a technological powerhouse on so many other levels -- tablets and eReaders included, that they're effecting a dramatic change in the way people shop. The company has historically operated on thin profits and a volume model and there is no doubt, Amazon is a disruptive force in etail. Amazon also typically invests excess cash into new fulfillment centers and other R&D projects. Why? So that Amazon itself doesn't get disrupted by whatever big innovation is bound to come next. One way to stay ahead of the curve is to innovate in shipping, which Amazon...
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The holiday shopping season is here and that means coming up with gift ideas for family and friends. If you're stuck on what to get, you may want to consider an Amazon Prime membership, both for yourself and for someone else. For the first time ever, Amazon is allowing shoppers to give the gift of its Prime service, and there are a couple of reasons why someone might like that sort of thing. For one, Prime offers instant streaming of over 41,000 movies and TV episodes through Primate Instant Video, along with over 350,000 books to borrow through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. Secondly, Prime members receive unlimited free two-day shipping on over 15 million items. "Members have told us they...
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What happens when the world's largest online retailer teams up with the smartphone maker that helped pioneer Android as viable alternative to iOS in the smartphone space? We may soon find out. Word on the web is that Amazon and HTC are in discussions about building a handset for users of Amazon's Prime service. There have been several rumors in the past of Amazon developing a smartphone, but so far, none of them have come to fruition. However, the timing feels right for the these two companies to make a splash in the smartphone sector, as both would have a lot to gain. For HTC, the potential for massive sales could turn the company's fortunes around after posting its first ever quarterly loss....
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Three cheers for democracy! The voting public has done their duty, and now Amazon is making known which of its original series will remain on the air. After a month or so of broadcasting via Amazon Instant, five pilots were chosen as the top-rated, and only those five will see production beyond the initial pilot episode. It was a highly unique tactic; Amazon funded and developed a number of new programs, and then aired them exclusively to Prime members for viewing. Then, it asked those viewers to vote on which they enjoyed the most. Comedy pilots Alpha House and Betas, along with kids pilots Annebots, Creative Galaxy and Tumbleaf, have been given the greenlight to begin production on a full series...
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Ah, the war on conventional television networks rages on. With Netflix scooping up exclusive, Internet-first programs on a regular basis now, Amazon is doing its best to keep pace. After all, it has to give users even more reason to spend $79 on an annual Prime membership, right? This week, Amazon's streaming video service (Prime Instant Video) gained a major asset: exclusive subscription access to some highly sought after NBCUniversal programming. The likes of Defiance, Grimm, Hannibal, Covert Affairs and Suits will soon join Amazon's streaming ranks, and if you want to watch them online, you'll have to use Amazon. No Netflix, no VUDU, no Hulu. Also as a part of the agreement with NBCUniversal,...
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Well, guess that's why they call it a trial. Amazon was offering its famed "Prime" services recently at a monthly clip. Ever since its inception, Prime has only ever been a $79/yearly subscription. But recently, Amazon began to allow people to sign up and pay monthly -- $7.99 per month. That represented a slight premium, but presumably Amazon thought that it could sell a lot of new subscriptions in the way that Netflix and Hulu have. Remember, Prime isn't just shipping; it's also a delivery platform for free TV and movie streaming. Now, it's not possible to sign up using that per-month option. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed to AllThingsD: “We regularly test new options for our customers....
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