Amazon recently announced that, in the four weeks following the launch of their Kindle 3, more Kindle readers were sold than for the same time period following any previous Kindle reader launch. The new Kindle is, not simply in demand, it is the fastest selling Kindle to date. True to form, Amazon didn’t reveal exactly how many Kindles were sold, but they did say that, since the launch of the latest Kindle, customers have ordered more Kindles on Amazon.com and the new Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other item.
Amazon's latest generation Kindle 3 was unveiled at the end of July. The new version has a slimmed down design which packs the same 6” display into a body that is 21% smaller and 15% lighter. Page turn speed is 20% faster and memory size has been boosted from 2GB to 4GB - sufficient to store 3,500 books. With the Wi-Fi turned off, the battery will now last for a month - even with the Wi-Fi on, a 10 day life is achievable - and the e-ink technology screen has had its contrast improved.
An entry level Wi-Fi only Kindle has been introduced, aimed at customers who don't see the need for 3G. This sells for just $ 139, with the Wi-Fi plus 3G model on offer at $ 189. Those prices are very much lower than the earlier Kindle price tag $ 359. It's a clear sign that the e-book reader market is entering a new phase.
During the first six months of 2010, Amazon sold three times as many Kindle books as they did during the first six months of 2009. There are now more than 670,000 Kindle books available - not including the 1.8 million free out of copyright books available.
The Kindle remains the top selling product on Amazon's site. It is also the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the high sales returns for the Kindle and the latest technical upgrades, it would be easy to overlook the importance of the opening of the UK Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk. The UK store has 400,000 Kindle titles on offer and could help to boost international sales. If it is a success – and why wouldn’t it be – it seems reasonable to assume that Amazon might open Kindle stores in Germany, France, Japan – and any other country with its own “local” Amazon website.
Whilst the Apple iPad continues to offer competition, this doesn't seem to concern Amazon very much. The difference in price between the Kindle and the iPad is, for the moment at least, large enough to tip the scales in favour of the Kindle for most customers whose chief interest is in reading books. The sale of e-books will become increasingly important as the e-book reader market develops and matures. The fact that Kindle book sales are outstripping the sales of Apple's iBooks by a factor of sixty to one must be very encouraging for Amazon.
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