News - Four weeks and Four million Kindles sold for Amazon

[HEXUS]

Record breaking holiday sales of well-over four million.

Read more.

[Singh400]

I was one of those 4 million. Would have bought a Kindle Fire if it was available in the UK. But I settled for the Kindle 4 WiFi instead. Should be here soon!

[neonplanet40]

Also have the Kindle and interested in the Fire. They really missed the boat on that though. Should have been globally available.

[Jaffo]

+1 for the Fire but hoping it's v2 when it ships over here, preferably larger too.

[HalloweenJack]

Also have the Kindle and interested in the Fire. They really missed the boat on that though. Should have been globally available.

there selling everything they can make in the USA alone.....

[crossy]

Having the Kindle application available in the App Store could be a positive attribute for Apple tablets sales when up against the Kindle Fire.

But I thought that Apple insisted that they get a cut of anything sold via an app - in which case I can't see Amazon being happy to pony up a percentage of Kindle book sales to Apple, (or has this changed and Apple isn't still insisting on this?)

Didn't get a Kindle myself (having to content myself with using the app-based version on my tablet instead), but my daughter's had the £89 one for a while now and really likes it.

[Mr-Tucker]

Might pick two of these up for the grandparents. A lot of people seem to recommend them. Always prefer paperback over digital myself.

[jim]

I expected to prefer paperbacks, but I really don't. I find reading a paperback a bit of a chore now.

[siliveshere]

I bought the basic £89 one. Great little device. Battery last forever, it's easy to read and thin enough to slip into whatever coat pocket you have handy. I think the genius of the device is how simple it is...all you can realistically do is read books. Browsing the net doesn't really work with the e-ink screen.

[RichieLee]

I had an interest in the kindle fire but that's stepping into tablet territory, and it doesn't do the job aswell as other tablets with it's screen. If they brought the fire over here, I'm sure there were rumours that it'd be twice as much money! In which case I'd probably stick with the standard kindle.

I've had a look on a wi-fi kindle before this new gen and it seems like a really nice bit of kit, easy to read and very light too! I have a penchant for paperbacks because well they're cheap if you shop around (kindle books are circa £8ish from what I've seen) but ultimately not cheap on physical space. The only think keeping me from a kindle is the romanticism associated with a tangible book but even I must admit ereaders at an affordable price point could prove a worthy successor. Other people I know that are into their literature seem to have a loathing of the kindle and blame it for the death of the bookshop yet they're the ones buying cheap books off amazon anyway...

[jim]

They certainly used to be more expensive, the ebooks, but all of the ones I've bought recently have cost about £4 versus £6 or so for a brand new paperback.

Obviously it depends a lot on what you're buying and how old it is, but they do seem to be more in line with what I would expect now, given the massive savings on offer for the publishers.

[Smudger]

The books are more expensive as ebooks because the publishers set the price and retailers are not allowed to sell below this price. Physical books can be given an RRP but the retailer can sell at whatever price they like, as they have already bought the stock.
On the other hand, classic books that are out of licence (Dickens, Dostoyevsky, etc) can be downloaded for free from Amazon, where you would still pay for the physical book in a bookshop.

[Funkstar]

The books are more expensive as ebooks because the publishers set the price and retailers are not allowed to sell below this price. Physical books can be given an RRP but the retailer can sell at whatever price they like, as they have already bought the stock.
On the other hand, classic books that are out of licence (Dickens, Dostoyevsky, etc) can be downloaded for free from Amazon, where you would still pay for the physical book in a bookshop.

VAT is also charged on eBooks, but not on their printed counterparts.

[jim]

It just isn't true.

Have a look at this: www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=1389913031

The vast majority there, the Kindle version is cheaper than the paper. Even if you want to dispute that, and pull out examples where the reverse is true, it certainly isn't a rule that ebooks cost more.