Apple’s updated MacBook Air line has quietly become a hit, with the company having shipped 1 million of the notebooks in the fourth quarter.
The figures come via Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who says recent checks in Asia imply that Apple shipped 1.1 million units for the three months ended December 31st, 2010.
If accurate, the numbers will indicate one of the strongest Mac launches in history.
Furthermore, Kuo says the Air are now selling at a 1:2 ratio to the MacBook Pro laptops, Apple’s best-selling.
Kuo says he expects Apple to “set a new Mac sales record during the [upcoming] quarter.”
Result for: fourth quarter
Amazon has revealed today that the latest generation of Kindle e-readers are the fastest selling Kindles of all-time, as well as the top selling products on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
The new Kindles, which saw a significant price drop along with slimmed down hardware, have already outsold all Kindle device sales from the fourth quarter 2009, Amazon’s strongest quarter due to increased demand for the holidays.
“It’s still October and we’ve already sold more Kindle devices since launch than we did during the entire fourth quarter of last year–astonishing because the fourth quarter is the busiest time of year on Amazon,” says Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Readers continue to choose Kindle for its all-new electronic ink screen with 50 percent higher contrast, readability in bright sunlight, long battery life of up to one month, light 8.5 ounce form, flexibility to read their books across all major LCD devices and platforms, and low $139 price. It’s clear that this is going to be the biggest holiday for Kindle yet–by far.”
Furthermore, Kindle e-book sales continue to “overtake print,” even though print book sales continue solid growth.
“For the top 10 bestselling books on Amazon.com, customers are choosing Kindle books over hardcover and paperback books combined at a rate of greater than 2 to 1. Kindle books are also outselling print books for the top 25, 100, and 1,000 bestsellers–it’s across the board,” adds Kessel, via MarketWatch. “This is remarkable when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover and paperback books for 15 years, and Kindle books for just 36 months.”
Result for: fourth quarter
Motorola has reported a 600 percent increase in profit for the Q2, thanks mainly to its network equipment division and continued strong smartphone sales.
Droid smartphones, including the original Droid and new Droid X, continued strong sales, and both are well received, critically.
Both devices are sold through Verizon Wireless, the U.S.’ largest carrier.
Most of the quarterly profit came from the company’s networks equipment unit, which Motorola plans to sell to Nokia Siemens for $1.2 billion.
Overall earnings came to $162 million, up from $26 million last year.
Motorola shipped 2.7 million smartphones during the quarter with 14 million expected for the full year. Co-CEO Jha says he expects the phone business to be profitable by the fourth quarter, for the first time in four years.
