Online retail giant Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos unveils the Kindle DX. Amazon crowned a new king on Thursday -- the Kindle, its electronic book reader. "Kindle has become the number one bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars -- not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com," Bezos said.
Amazon crowned a new king on Thursday -- the Kindle, its electronic book reader. "Kindle has become the number one bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars -- not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com," Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said.
In keeping with previous practice, Bezos declined to reveal sales figures for the Kindle, but Forrester Research estimates the device has a nearly 60 percent share of the US market followed by the Sony Reader with 35 percent.
Forrester estimates that three million e-readers will be sold in the United States this year, up from a previous forecast of two million units, and for e-reader sales to double to six million units next year.
Bezos also announced that the price of a new international version of the Kindle designed to synch with telecom networks in 100 countries was being cut to 259 dollars from 279 dollars.
The Bezos statements came as his Seattle-based company reported a 68-percent rise in net profit in the third quarter to 199 million dollars, or 45 cents per share, better than the 33 cents per share forecast by Wall Street analysts.
Revenue increased 28 percent to 5.45 billion dollars during the quarter which ended on September 30.
Amazon also delivered an optimistic sales forecast for the upcoming holiday season, saying it expected sales of between 8.1 billion dollars to 9.1 billion dollars, an increase of between 21 percent and 36 percent over last year.
Bezos told Amazon's annual shareholders meeting in May that the company may never reveal Kindle sales figures. "Our point of view on that is that there can often be a competitive advantage in keeping the numbers close," he said.
Amazon shares soared 14.05 percent to 103.52 dollars in after-hours electronic trading.
© 2009 AFP
