Amazon may disclose how many Kindles the company sold (using just the vague term "million" in its latest earnings report), but the company has no problem throwing up sales of books for the Kindle platform users. The company noted that sold three books for each title hardcover and ebooks are even surpassing paperbacks (Amazon notes that sells 115 ebooks for every 100 paperbacks).
The news is not a complete surprise. Barnes and Noble noted last month that sales of books in your platform recanto likewise had exceeded sales of physical books from your online store.
There are obvious advantages to ebooks, one of which is the convenience. Another, perhaps more telling the advantage is that electronic editions tend to cost significantly less than their physical counterparts, especially when it comes to recent hardcover releases. Amazon still noted in its release of financial results saying that most 670.000 810000 of the store plus books cost less than $ 9.99.
One of the reasons that Amazon may be enjoying this level of success and still be willing to reveal how many real devices sold is that many of these sales ebook cannot be linked to actual Kindle devices. As with Barnes and Noble nook, Amazon produces a range of Kindle apps that can be installed on smartphones (a Windows phone 7 application joined recently apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry), tablets (including the iPad and Android tablets), PCs and Macs. Also, Amazon has announced plan to follow the concept of ebook on Google browser that would allow read on any device connected to the Internet.
To make the Kindle a platform that can run on anything (and that synchronizes local, last read ebooks, notes and highlights on multiple devices), Amazon has positioned itself to rummage in ebook sales even if it can't move Kindle hardware in large quantities. Having the largest selection of ebook in the US wouldn't hurt either. Many users of Tablet PC and smartphone, myself included, they may prefer to buy books from other vendors (especially if they are cheaper – something that Leatherbound .me can help you find out), but are willing to purchase from Amazon if that is the single source for a particular title or if there is a notable difference in price.
I prefer Apple's iBooks app on my iPad, for example. Has highlighted features and notation better, have more options to organize collections of books, does not require using an external browser to browse and buy books, synchronizes titles automatically to iTunes and not depend on access to servers only from Amazon and have a feeling more book-like. That said, there are several books that I've read using the Kindle app simply because Amazon was the sole source for electronic versions.
If Amazon can keep this long-term advantage is a great question. Apple's IBookstore and Barnes and Noble nook store gained some ground (Barnes and Noble also offers applications for multiple platforms) and Google recently has launched its hat into the ring. While its catalogs may not be as large as the Amazon, they are growing. They may also have a possible advantage in the use of open standards in the form of EPUB as opposed to the default owner of Amazon for ebooks. For now at least Amazon definitely seems to be holding on to some of its advantages.
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