iStockphoto have revealed more details it’s new subscription packages to be launched on 26th May 2008. Why is this news? Well, this new package appears to be a competitive move aimed directly at Shutterstock’s long standing and until now, unique subscription model. See Previous Post.

If this is the case then iStockphoto will have an edge that could severely impact on sales over at Shutterstock. New details of the iStockphoto package reveal that is very close to the existing Shutterstock subscription package with only a few minor differences in the way that contributors are paid. Ultimately, for buyers that requires a lot of images, iStockphoto will offer a realistic and attractive alternative to Shutterstock which is a situation that hasn’t existed before.

Early indications suggest that iStock will offer 3 month subscriptions with packages allowing subscribers to download images with a value of between 30 and 480 credits a day. With each iStockphoto image selling for somewhere between 1 and 10 credits, that offers a potentially amazing 480 images per day for small blog sized images. And even large images that sell for 10 credits will see iStock subscribers having the potential to download as many as 48 images per day.

Assuming there isn’t a massive and previously untapped customer base for the new subscription model, it looks like iStockphoto may well be targeting the existing Shutterstock customer base. Although prices for the iStockphoto packages haven’t yet been confirmed, the model itself compares very favourably with Shutterstock packages that allow a maximum 25 images per day regardless of image size. Only time and price will determine the outcome.