Amazon said today that sales of its Kindle hardware has tripled since the price was reduced from $259 to $189.
Perhaps more interesting is their statement that downloaded kindle books have overtaken hardcover sales.
According to Amazon, 143 Kindle books have been sold for every 100 hardcovers in the past three months, and that ratio is 9:2 in the past month (with lower reader costs).
Other interesting points:
- Amazon sold more than 3x as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 as in the first half of 2009.
- The Association of American Publishers’ reports e-book sales grew 163 percent in May and 207 percent year-to-date through May. Kindle book sales in May and year-to-date through May exceeded those growth rates.
- On July 6, Hachette announced that James Patterson had sold 1.14 million e-books to date. Of those, 867,881 were Kindle books.
- Five authors–Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson, and Nora Roberts–have each sold more than 500,000 Kindle books.
The Apple iPad, which has its own e-book store, started sales in April. Yet sales of the Kindle also grew each month during the quarter, Amazon said.
Owners of iPads and other mobile reading devices can buy Kindle books, which they can read on computers, iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Android phones. But Kindle owners can read only Kindle content bought from Amazon. “Every time they sell a Kindle, they lock up a customer,” said Mike Shatzkin, founder and chief executive of the Idea Logical Company, which advises book publishers on digital change.
According to Forrester Research, retailers will sell 6.6 million e-readers this year. But Apple sold over three million iPads in just 80 days.
