Amazon: Kindle books outselling physical books
updated 12:25 pm EST, Sun December 27, 2009
Kindle has breakthrough Christmas
Amazon touted itself again this weekend with word of a banner holiday shopping period for the Kindle. The online retailer says that the e-book reader was not only the most gifted item, topping the iPod touch, but that readers for the first time ever bought more e-books in the Kindle's proprietary format than actual paper books. Amazon has stopped short of providing statistics.
The achievement is a milestone for both the Internet-dependent company but also e-books in general, as it hints at a significantly quicker transition to pure downloads for books than for music or movies, where CDs still form a majority of sales even if their share continues to shrink. It comes just as Barnes & Noble is believed to be enjoying exceptional Nook sales and almost exactly a month before a rumored Apple event where the iPhone maker could release a 7-inch or larger tablet that could have specially optimized digital books and magazines.
eBooks and eReaders are terrific...
12/27, 04:18pm reply
I honestly don't understand why naysayers are so resistant to tablets. You can put so many books on one slim device. All I keep hearing is that tablets are going to fail again. Yet there are major publishers willing to get with the program and there are a number of companies that are going to go full force with tablets. Yet people keep saying that they don't want any device without a physical keyboard. The tablet is going to be used as an output device as opposed to an input device. I can't wait to get my hands on the Apple multimedia color device especially if it's a bit more capable than an oversized iPod Touch and can handle good quality video and play games.
iphonerulez
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Joined: Nov 2008
$0
12/27, 04:52pm reply
I wonder if the number of "bought" books includes those that are free.
jmonty12
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Joined: Jun 2003
Number
12/27, 11:13pm reply
Numbers please.
slapppy
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Joined: Mar 2008
Real books are better
12/28, 12:44am reply
And I don't see the need to carry hundreds or even dozens of books, unless they are reference books. Some people love their e-books, I don't have a use for them.
Amazon's silence on numbers speaks volumes.
ClevelandAdv
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Joined: Jul 2004
Christmas DAY Only
12/28, 08:14am reply
Sales of e-books exceeded those of traditional books on Amazon for one day only: Christmas Day. Your article makes it sound as though e-books outsold trad books the entire shopping season.
DougAdams
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Joined: Oct 2001
Not Surprising
12/28, 12:52pm reply
All those new Kindles being opened Christmas day. Of course you buy something to test/read. Same with iPod touch app sales.
Duh.
Schatz
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Joined: Oct 2004
NO HARD FACTUAL NUMBERS
12/28, 12:57pm reply
This regurgitated c*** from Amazon is all over the net. Where are the hard unit sales numbers? Where? Nowhere to be found. Another PR stunt from Amazon.
slapppy
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Joined: Mar 2008