Kindle Unlimited rebrand raises concerns about possible price increases

Amazon has renamed its ebook subscription service Kindle Unlimited as Kindle+. The service’s price and features have not changed, according to TechRadar, which reports that the rebrand also brings more audiobooks to subscribers.

Some of the newly included audiobooks are narrated by artificial intelligence. Amazon’s Virtual Voice lets authors create AI-narrated versions of their books at no additional cost, the report says. It attributes the information about the expanded audiobook selection to ZDNet.

The name change has prompted concerns among some subscribers that prices could rise later. TechRadar cites comments on Reddit in which users speculate about a future increase. Those comments express user concerns; they do not confirm that Amazon plans to change prices.

The report says the rebrand could potentially make it easier for Amazon to present the service as offering more, or could precede tiered pricing. It also suggests a simpler explanation: Amazon may have wanted to replace “Unlimited,” a name that could be confusing because the service has limits on available books and how many subscribers can access at once. Whether the change is only a rebrand or signals further changes remains unclear.