Amazon‘s personal assistant and streaming device Echo has registered sales of nearly 4 million units since its launch in late 2014, and the company has set a target to sell 10 million Echo devices by next year, which will make it a $1 billion hardware business for the company. According to CIRP’s research, customer awareness of the product reached almost 50% by the end of last year and Amazon is now looking at innovative ways to attract users to the device. Reports suggest that the company is launching a music subscription service, which would be priced at $10 per month. However, a version that would only work on its Echo hardware would cost half of the regular streaming service, ort $5 per month. The company currently offers Amazon Music to its Prime customers who can stream a limited catalog of music for free. Amazon’s Prime Music library is limited, since the company struck deals with labels offering a discount. However, launching a paid music streaming service can enable Amazon to enhance this library and recover content acquisition costs through the two subscription models and potentially offer Prime members a larger music library for free, in addition to boosting sales of its Echo device.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/2bm1MFw
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