Amazon just announced that the Kindle had its best month of sales ever – even before Cyber Monday (yeah, like one day is going to make a difference).
Not sure why Amazon felt compelled to release a Press Release. Here’s what Amazon has been saying (in press releases and Amazon.com ads) -
- November was best month ever.
- Kindle is #1 best-selling.
- Kindle is #1 gifted.
- Kindle is #1 most wished for.
- It’s selling faster than any other product.
Ian Freed of Amazon adds -
“We’re seeing lots of people buying from one to a handful of Kindles as gifts for friends or family, as well as many businesses and other organizations buying Kindles in large quantities for their employees or customers.”
How about giving some credit where credit is due?
To Barnes & Noble -
We could not have done this without you.
First, you announced your product 1.5 months in advance so we could add PDF support, Kindle for PC, screen rotation and basically edge ahead of you.
Next, you didn’t have enough stock so excited readers only have the Kindle to buy.
A shout out to Sony -
For selling out of the Reader Daily Edition even before it was available to order (that is the real definition of best-selling ever).
For running ads that make zero sense – Do you really think people who read books are going to be impressed by Peyton Manning playing Whack-A-Mole?
Finally, thanks to the mainstream press -
Thanks to you, Kindle managed to beat Paris Hilton and win the ‘Person/Device the press loves to hate the most’ award.
All publicity is good publicity.
You have, as a bonus, talked up the Nook so much it couldn’t possibly meet expectations. Not to mention you’ve thoroughly confused people about it being a ‘color eReader’ and allowing ‘sharing of books’.
Will things get better for the Kindle or worse?
You have the obvious upside i.e.
People have been promised so much about the Nook that it can’t really live up to the great expectations. Wonder how people will react -
- When they figure out they can lend an ebook a grand total of 1 time.
- When they figure out B&N ebooks are more expensive than Kindle Store books.
There’s also the obvious downside -
- There’s always the chance that Nook meets expectations.
- The press will continue to fawn over it. It’s not like they are going to wait to actually use it and write an actual review.
Overall, Amazon have to be happy that B&N’s stock issues killed the Nook’s chances.
The Kindle gets to run away with the Holiday season and the press continue to give Amazon free publicity.
Filed under: kindle Tagged: | kindle sales estimates
