'Millions of people' now own Kindles, says Amazon in its most non-vague sales statement yet
By Ross Miller 
posted January 28th 2010 7:41PM
posted January 28th 2010 7:41PM
Amazon has been notoriously and aggravatingly mum on releasing concrete sales figures for its Kindle series. Last tidbit we heard was that it was the most gifted item in the retail company's history. Or maybe there was some indication by AT&T's note today that 1 million non-phones have been activated, which at this point includes newer Kindles, Nooks, and Sony Readers. At any rate, CEO Jeff Bezos let out the tiniest smidgen of Kindle's sales today in its fiscal report, saying that "millions of people now own Kindles." If we're lucky, next earnings call we'll get to play a "higher or lower" guessing game. Maybe.
@azxplorer That great. Let us know when you decide the re-purchase the kindle.
@azxplorer
Are you sure it it is worth selling because i am keeping my nook and getting an ipad just because the nook is a e-reader with a e-ink display which is good for reading verses reading a ebook on a lcd, like a laptop or ipad. At least if you get the ipad use the kindle app since kindle is drm, if you had a nook i would have told you, you can just port your epub books over.
this thing looks shit compared to the iPad. Its some black and white ugly looking thing with a billion buttons.
bye bye kindle :)
The Kindle is a better ebook reader than the iPad.
@Carld
At the moment i would say everything does better at what it does than the gigantic iPhone.
The Giz writerup the other day estimates its 2.5 million units.
Bye Kindle, Hello Kindle App / iBookstore Wars.
Probably cause it isn't a iPad
I'm really dubious about this "millions" claim. The fact that they haven't released any real numbers probably means that the Kindle hasn't really done that well. I'm not knocking it, I'm just saying it's probably symptomatic of the fact that e-readers in general haven't done terribly well yet. It'll happen in the future, but I don't think the e-reader explosion is here just yet.
When companies choose to hide their sales figures, all I can think is that they aren't happy with them.
@KupoCheer
" At any rate, CEO Jeff Bezos let out the tiniest smidgen of Kindle's sales today in its fiscal report, saying that "millions of people now own Kindles." If we're lucky, next earnings call we'll get to play a "higher or lower" guessing game. Maybe. "
I dont think you go and lie about how many you've sold in a fiscal report.
@LAY
what are you talking about. they can do anything they want. all they have to do is announce how much revenues and profits, etc they've made. they are not required, by law, to announce units sold, etc.
Apple hides units sold breakdown all the time (just try to get them to tell you how many Mac minis they sold last year)
Make that millions + 1, I just got mine.
I waited to see what Apple had in store, after that LCD fraud I made up my mind.
After seeing the ipad. I bet this guy nearly shti his pants.
So he felt compelled to release this statement.
We r already seeing the effects that ipad will have on netbook tablet n ereader industries. CEOs r having panic attacks.
Ipad will easily gobble up these 3 undustries in first year. Especially after the first ipad price drop. Kindle has no future I'm sorry to say.
@logic thinker
Kindle will survive (for a while, at least). There will be a Kindle 3, and it will probably get closer to the iPad. New display technologies will change the game again.
@logic thinker I think it'll continue to survive, but the price will have to drop to $99. At it's current price point it will die but Bezos can't be that ignorant.
@logic thinker You've obviously never seen or used a Kindle. Seriously you just can't really compare the two devices. I want my eReader to last two weeks on a single charge, I don't want it to last 10 hours. I want my eReader to be one thing -- and that is a great replacement for paper books. The iPad can't do that.
It will have glare, it will get smudged, you won't be able to read it in the sunlight. The data plan will cost me $30/month -- on the Kindle it's free. Amazon backs up my purchases on it's website, will Apple do the same for iBook purchases? I doubt it. Will the iPad get hot? Most likely. There will be pop-up notifications that will distract me from my book. I want the device to melt away and let me read -- nothing else.
At the end of the day they are different devices for different uses. Sure, the iPad will make a good reader for people who read a few minutes a day, here and there. But for anyone who wants to sit down for a few hours with a great book, there really is nothing like the Kindle. It's not an area that the iPad fits into. The Kindle does have a future. Anyone who's actually seen and used one knows it's different, and knows it's Apples-to-Amazons.
@Jason Shaffer Wow, nicely argued. You sure you're an Engadget reader?
Do you really think the whole single function thing is going to survive in the long run though? The inevitable drive towards fewer multifunction devices seems inevitable. Amazon won't be able to resist adding functions (suddenly there's an app store, and games, and ...), and competition with others will almost force them to add capabilities if they want the price to maintain rather than plumet to zero over time.
A little competition will be good for the Kindle as well. A touchscreen would clearly be a better interface (if it didn't make the screen unreadable). Color would certainly be nice at some point. Its stupid how they handle PDFs, and how they handle Blogs. And there's too few Magazines available. And ...
But they got enough things right (especially the Whispernet, and the book prices) that they should have some time to tweak these things.
@cherryboom
Hate to burst your bubble, but there are plenty of people who just think the iPad is full of fail. No evil corporate conspiracies necessary.
@Fanfoot N, I'm sure you're probably right that the single-function thing will not last, that's not necessarily a bad thing in my opinion, as long as it does not get in the way of reading. I think the main distinction really through all of this is the different screen tech. This gives the Kindle distinct advantages in battery life, and "viewability".
Amazon will have color e-ink towards the end of this year. If they go with something like the displays coming out of Mirasol, it will also be able to refresh at speeds allowing video, and offer 80% improvements on battery life. If the Kindle can do embedded video, that's great. If it can do crosswords, sudoku, games like that, that's great. As far as the Apps, I'm sure they will be focused on things that help the reader. Things like better organization, or typeface style adjustment (which Amazon says is coming, but who knows when).
Overall your point is true -- Amazon will add features to attract more of the mass market. As long as the core of it is a reader, it will do well. There are plenty of single-function devices that do one thing, but do it great, and have uses for many many people. Probably one of the best examples is the book. Amazon is trying to replicate the experience of the book, and bring it into the modern age. I think they've done that essentially. Unfortunately so stay ahead in the current electronics market, you've gotta have every unnecessary feature that exists tacked on, or you wont succeed. I'm sure Amazon will do this, but hopefully, they will remain true to what got them this far -- a great reading experience.
the kindle screen is too small, doesn't do color, no flash support, no front facing camera, no app support, whispernet is bad in my area...
@john as opposed to what alternative? I though you were referring to ereaders, but then you mention flash and cameras and such..
I am not a fan of Apple and I like eink, but Ipad will destroy Kindle at the same price point (DX). All you need is a good PDF app. I look forward to wifi only DX at half price.
@mutex Agreed, at least with respect to the Kindle DX. If Amazon can't get the price down the thing is dead. No reason for a single-function black and white device like this to be the same price as a multi-function color one. And since its having trouble penetrating schools its probably dead.
Doesn't mean the regular Kindle is dead though. I agree with others here that it needs to continue to drop in price. It needs to be an impulse purchase, something the iPad will never be. And Amazon needs to set things up to make their money on books. Yes the iPad will drive the Kindle price down and that's good for everybody.
sold millions my ass.....
I have not seen one in person.
@jim09 I saw three on my last Cruise... have seen a few in use while flying... have a close friend who has one. Still, not exactly commonplace, and this is Silicon Valley.
Yes the Kindle is selling like hot cakes. MILLIONS of people own them. That is why, living the in the FOURTH largest city in the United States, I have seen exactly 0 of these things. Ever. Not one. I don't own one. I don't know anyone that owns one. I don't even know anyone that knows anyone that knows OF anyone that owns one!
Those are seriously popular devices right there, let me tell you.
Some that gets a box of these should see if they can decode the serial number algorithm.