New Kindles set Amazon sales records

Amazon released the first four-week sales figures for its new generation of Kindle eBook readers and there were some surprising results. Amazon said there were record orders for the latest group of Kindles. In fact, according to Amazon, "more of these Kindles were sold in the first four weeks than in the same time frame following any other Kindle launch, making the new Kindles the fastest-selling ever." What's more, Kindle was the best selling item period on Amazon.com and Amazon.UK for the same time period. What makes these numbers surprising is people expected the iPad an other multi-function tablets to kill eBook reader sales.

When the iPad came out, the conventional wisdom said, that it would spell the end of the Kindle and indeed all of the stand-alone eBook readers. Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle says they have been selling all along. "Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum," he said.

When you think about it, a Kindle does only one thing, while a tablet does many things, but the new Kindles are smaller, faster, cheaper and easier to read. For someone on the go, who reads a lot, a stand-alone device designed strictly for reading has a lot going for it. Judging by the numbers, it's still in demand in spite of the early predictions of its demise. 

According to Amazon it's the most gifted and wished for item on Amazon and customers from 125 countries have placed orders for the new models. It's hard to argue with that kind of success.

For more information
- see the Amazon press release

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