Five Questions About Amazon Prime That Jeff Bezos Still Won't Answer

It has been exactly a decade since Jeff Bezos first mentioned Amazon Prime during a conference call with investors. At the time, the Amazon chief executive officer described it as a very simple service offering customers “‘all-you-can-eat express shipping.” Since its 2004 introduction, Amazon Prime has expanded to become a complicated package: For $99, a price 25 percent higher than at launch to account for inflation,, customers get streaming video and original programing such as Transparent, access to an e-book lending library, a digital music service, and online photo storage. And, yes, faster shipping on many items sold by Amazon.com.

The company celebrated Prime's 10th birthday by posting an infographic. The data have been cleverly selected to impress without revealing much about the business. Did you know that Amazon delivered 221 different types of toothbrushes last year with its same-day service? Prime members could order 856 items every day for the rest of their lives and still not receive everything offered through the service—just think about that. And get this: Amazon Prime members really enjoy watching Downton Abbey.