Surprising Science — January 31, 2011

Kindle Outpaces Paperback Sales

Amazon has revealed that it has sold more Kindle ebooks than paperbacks in the U.S. during the final three months of 2010. The milestone has come sooner than expected.

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Amazon has revealed that it has sold more Kindle ebooks than paperbacks in the U.S. during the final three months of 2010. A similar pattern has continued during January 2011 with 115 ebooks being sold for every 100 paperbacks. The figure only relates to the U.S. market and the number of ebooks sold on Amazon’s own e-reader device, the Kindle, which now accounts for 41.5 per cent of the e-reader market. Amazon is expected to sell more than eight million Kindles this year, up from 2.4 million last year, according to Bloomberg. The figures exclude any free ebook download offers but include those made via the free Kindle iPhone app and tablet and desktop apps.

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