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Amazon Kindle ebook sales surpass paperbacks

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On January 27, 2011, 7:09 PM

Amazon has released its fourth quarter financial statement marking two significant milestones: the latest period was Amazon's first $10 billion quarter with net sales increasing 36% on-year to $12.95 billion, and the company's Kindle ebook sales have surpassed paperbacks.

Last July, Amazon announced that it was selling nearly two ebooks for every one hardcover. The company originally thought ebooks would outpace paperbacks by the second quarter of this year, so the milestone came unexpectedly fast (and it's on top of increasing paperback sales).


Amazon now sells 115 Kindle books for every 100 paperbacks. Meanwhile, the gap between ebooks and hardcovers has increased to three digital sales for every physical copy. This includes traditional books that don't have a Kindle copy and excludes pre-1923 public domain works.

The US Kindle store now offers more than 810,000 books, up from 630,000 last summer, as well as millions of free titles with expired copyrights. Amazon has yet to share device sales, but the company touts that "millions" of the third-gen Kindle were sold in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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3 comments

User Comments: 3

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  1. January 30, 2011 9:05 AM
    fpsgamerJR62 said:

    I find it more comfortable to read a hardcover or paperback book than anything displayed on a LCD screen. The problem with hardcover and, for the matter, paperback books is that first of all, you need paper which, of course, comes from trees and that the books tend to deteriorate over time. Storage will eventually be a problem if you keep on accumulating books.

    Reply
  2. January 31, 2011 11:50 AM
    Guest said:

    fpsgamerJR62:

    Have you ever seen a kindle screen?? They are not LCD screens and are very comfortable on the eyes..The screen does actually look like a book.

    Reply
  3. May 2, 2011 9:04 PM
    Guest said:

    Ganhei um KINDLE e amei ler os livros que baixei nele.

    Mas estou curiosa para acessar a net por ele, porém ainda não tenho conseguido.

    Por favor, se possível enviem informações em português para que possa ter êxito no uso de meu equipamento. Agradeço, Jacqueline Schalm, Blumenau/ SC /BRASIL

    Reply

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