Amazon Increases Kindle WSJ Subscription by 50%

This could be sign of new pricing strategy for digital content.

[PaulPA]

Amazon has just announced effective immediately, they are raising the subscription price of the Wall Street Journal by 50% (from $9.99 to $14.99 per month). There has been a lot of talk that Amazon has priced the Kindle low in order to attract customers but at some point they will need to charge higher rates for content in order to make money (razor/razor blade strategy).

Yet I have to say as someone who really likes my Kindle, and enjoys the convenience of having the WSJ waiting for me each morning, a 50% price increase seems excessive. (It is also interesting that this announcement was sent late Friday-early Saturday on a holiday weekend!)

It is possible this is being forced on Amazon by WSJ (i.e., Murdoch) but it will be interesting to see if other content providers follow suit. I suspect the days of low priced Kindle subscriptions and maybe books as well, may be on the way out.