Amazon has announced a significant tipping point in e-book sales, with Kindle books now outselling hardback books on Amazon.com
Amazon has sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardbacks sold online over the last three months.
Tipping point for booksellers
Over the last month, Kindle e-books have been outselling hardback books by a 180-to-100 margin, accelerating the trend.
Pricing is clearly key, with Amazon US selling most new hardback books at $9.99, which is significantly less than the cost of a hardback.
However, it should also be noted that paperback book sales still make up the vast majority of Amazon's sales, yet the online retailer has made no announcements about how e-book sales compare with that business. Amazon has 630,000 Kindle books available to buy online, which is only a small proportion of the millions of paperbacks available.
There are also over 1.8 million free Kindle books available that were originally published before 1923 (and, as such, are out of copyright).
Fewer books in print
Amazon cut the cost of its Kindle reader in the US last month from $259 to $189 last month, although the company has still to reveal how many units of the hardware it has sold to date.
Mike Shatzkin, founder of the Idea Logical Company, which advises book publishers on digital strategy and e-publishing said of Amazon's latest announcement: "This was a day that was going to come, a day that had to com."
The e-book analyst predicts that less than a quarter of books will be sold in print versions within the next ten years.
Amazon also recently launched mobile Kindle apps for iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys and Android phones.
Youssef H. Squali, MD at Jefferies & Company in charge of Internet and new media research said that: "Amazon's latest sales figures are "clearly an indication that the iPad is complementary to the Kindle, not a replacement."
Via CNN Money and The New York Times
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thad_mcilroy
July 20th 2010
1. Yes, you've discovered Amazon's secret "Pricing is clearly key, with Amazon US selling most new HARDBACK books at $9.99, which is significantly less than the cost of a HARDBACK." Low blow...I apologize.
But please try to keep an objective distance from the amazin' Amazon hype machine. "Amazon has announced a significant tipping point in e-book sales," you report. Is that your belief? Bezos referred to "a tipping point (in the) growth rate of Kindle device unit sales" (after a big retail price cut). He categorized the e-book sales figure as a mere "milestone".
But you're right. "Pricing is clearly key, with Amazon US selling most new Kindle e-books at $9.99, which is significantly less than the cost of a hardback."
And that's why the comparison is meaningless. When Mr. Bezos offers a sales comparison between similarly-priced paperbacks and Kindle e-books perhaps then you'll actually have a story worth reporting.
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