January 2011 - the ebook revolution!
Kindle ebook sales overtake paper book sales!
Amazon margins slide as Kindle outsells paperbacks
January 28, 2011
Amazon said it was now selling more e-books via its Kindle platform than physical paperback books.
Amazon, which began as a web bookseller and is now at the forefront of digital publishing, said Kindle books have now overtaken paperbacks as its most popular format. It said last summer it was selling more digital books than hardcovers.
Over 83 per cent of books available in the US Kindle store are $US9.99 or less, Amazon said. It has tried to keep prices low to encourage adoption.
Although Amazon does not disclose sales or profit data for its Kindle e-reader or content, many believe it derives more profit from digital books than from its Kindle devices and say that content is a better bet for its long-term growth.
Amazon customers are buying Kindle digital versions of the top 10 best-selling books more than twice as often as print copies, the online retail giant says.
"Kindle books are also outselling print books for the top 25, 100, and 1000 best-sellers - it's across the board," said Steve Kessel, senior vice-president of Amazon Kindle.
"This is remarkable when you consider that we've been selling hardcover and paperback books for 15 years, and Kindle books for just 36 months," Kessel said in a statement.
Amazon said in July sales of electronic books for the Kindle have overtaken hardcover book sales.
Kessel said: "For the top 10 best-selling books on Amazon.com, customers are choosing Kindle books over hardcover and paperback books combined at a rate of greater than two to one."
Amazon said it sold more than three times as many Kindle books in the first nine months of this year as in the first nine months of 2009. Amazon does not release actual sales figures for the Kindle
but the company said the latest generation Kindles introduced in July are the fastest-selling Kindles yet and the best-selling products on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. "It's still October and we've already sold more Kindle devices since launch than we did during the entire fourth quarter of last year - astonishing because the fourth quarter is the busiest time of year on Amazon," Kessel said.
"It's clear that this is going to be the biggest holiday for Kindle yet by far," he said. Amazon unveiled two new versions of its Kindle electronic reader in late July, including one that sells for $US139 ($A141.30), its lowest price yet.
Amazon cut the price of the Kindle and revamped the line in the face of a threat in the e-reader market from Apple's iPad and companies such as Sony and bookstore Barnes & Noble, which also offer e-readers.
Source: News on au.yahoo7.com.au 26 October 2010
