Amazon Kindle sales soar

by Pedro Hernandez on July 20, 2010 · 1 comment

What iBooks?

Fears that Apple’s tablet would torpedo Amazon’s Kindle appear unfounded. Amazon today offered some pretty interesting statistics about the company’s e-book platform. According to CEO Jeff Bezos, the recent Kindle price drop helped triple sales of the e-reader. (Amazon is loathe to release exact Kindle sales figures, so we’ll have to take him at this word)

Also, Kindle e-book sales seem to be picking up at a brisk pace. For every 100 hardcover books the e-tailer has sold over the past three months, it sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, the number is even higher: 180 Kindle books for every 100 hardcovers. It’s important to note that Kindle e-reader software is available for a variety of devices including PC, Mac, Android handsets, the iPhone, and yes, even the iPad.

Nonetheless, there’s a whole lot less dead tree circulating in the publishing world. Amazon cites figures from the The Association of American Publishers that show e-book sales growth of 163 percent in May and “207 percent year-to-date through May.” Kindle e-book sales surpass those figures, according to the company.

Tagged as: amazon, e-books, E-Reader, Kindle, sales, statistics