Amazon.com’s new Kindle is outselling previous versions in the best month of its launch, the corporation said Wednesday. But Amazon kindle still won’t reveal sales figures because of its trendy e-book reader.
The long-awaited Kindle 3 announcement came June 29. The smaller, lighter new version costs $139, versus the $399 price tag of the initial Kindle released in November 2007. Which means the Kindle 3, which started shipping Wednesday, is 65% cheaper than the first — so it’s not surprising it’s the fastest-selling iteration.
Wednesday’s declaration is simply another in an extended line of vague press releases about the Kindle, in which Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) consistently has refused to say how many e-readers it has sold.
The business only believed the new Kindle reading device will be the “fastest-selling ever.” Calls to Amazon for further clarification about Kindle sales were not without delay returned.
The verbal gymnastics reached a top in July, when Amazon said inside a press release that the Kindle’s “sales growth rate” had tripled while a price cut — a confusing phrase that led some news outlets to report incorrectly that total Kindle sales had tripled.
The Kindle seems to be doing well despite competition from e-readers including the Barnes & Noble (BKS, Fortune 500) Nook, the Sony (SNE) Reader and Kobo from Borders (BGP), as well as Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) multipurpose iPad.
‘They compare apples to Apple Jacks’: It’s in Amazon’s best interest to keep Kindle sales details under wraps, said Michael Norris of Simba Information, a research firm that covers the media and publishing industries.
“They can keep this perception of being the market leader without releasing the details,” Norris said. “It’s attractive to sit down through Amazon earnings calls and no-one pushes for Kindle details. It’s as if people are trained not to ask.”
In general, e-books net Amazon more profit versus physical books, Norris said. He points to an “amusing” July press release that said the corporation sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books.
“They’re comparing apples to Apple Jacks,” he added. ” letter management is further than standard corporate public relations. And now I’ve gotten so used to it that I’m becoming suspicious of any stats they release.”
Kindle books sales in the millions? Amazon Kindle sales account for about 3-5% of Amazon’s total revenue, according to Internet stock analyst Frederick Moran of The Benchmark Company.
Analysts are currently forecasting that Amazon’s total revenue this year will be $33.2 billion. So with Moran’s estimates, Amazon may generate as much seeing that $1.7 billion in sales from the Kindle this year. Moran added that he thinks the corporation has probably sold enormous the devices during the last few years.
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