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: holiday sales
According to a new NPD analysis, Blu-ray will finally break into the mainstream in 2010, especially as prices continue to drop.
The company researched consumers using Blu-ray set-top boxes (not including the PS3) in February 2008 and in August of this year, and the figures clearly showed that BD is out of the “early adopter” phase and into the “dreamers” phase which is the group that wants the new technology but are “deterred by price.”
Regardless, NPD says falling prices, strong holiday sales, and a slowing uptrending economy will finally push Blu-ray from “niche” technology to “mainstream.”
In the 2008 study, over 64 percent of users were early adopters, which only account for 20 percent of the entire market. By August however, the number had been reduced to 38 percent, and replaced by “dreamers” and “sensibles,” a group full of middle aged families who like the technology but waited some time before investing. Those two groups account for over 40 percent of the entire market.
“In the last year, we have made great strides toward becoming mainstream, but we’re not quite there yet,” notes NPD analyst Russ Crupnick, via VB. “But going into the holiday season, we are seeing a combination of fairly reasonable price points on hardware and a lot of content. By February, after the holidays, it’s going to quickly look more and more mainstream. We are on that path.”
There are however still a decent amount of “late adopters” who do not care for the technology or are neutral. Neutral consumers are at 17 percent while “anti-tech” (users that frankly hate Blu-ray) are at 7 percent.
Result for: holiday sales
In an effort to spur added holiday sales, Orange France has cut the price of the 8GB model iPhone 3G from 149 euros to 99 euros when bought new with contract and data plan.
The price cut on the 16GB model wasn’t confirmed but reports have said it will drop from 199 euros to 129.
The promotion, called internally the “Christmas Origami star,” will last from November 13th until January 14th.
European prices for the iPhone 3G have never been this low but does bring back memories of last June when carriers slashed the price of the first generation iPhone to 99 euros or cheaper in an effort to clear out stock.
