Skip to main content

Kindle books now outselling paperbacks

Amazon Kindle

Online retailing giant Amazon.com has released its financial results for its fourth quarter of 2010, which ended back on December 31. The company is still keeping a tight lip about how many Kindle devices it has sold (using only the term “millions”), but it has divulged another interesting Kindle-related item: sales of Kindle books have now overtaken sales of paperback books on Amazon.com, making the Kindle book the top book format the company sells. Amazon also saw a net 36 percent increase in sales to a whopping $12.95 billing for the fourth quarter, with operating income of $474 million. The overall numbers show Amazon’s business is strong, but the relatively low margin generally failed to impress investors.

The quarter also saw Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reduce his stake in the company from 21.2 percent to 19.5 percent.

Related Videos

“We had our first $10 billion quarter, and after selling millions of third-generation Kindles with the new Pearl e-ink display during the quarter, Kindle books have now overtaken paperback books as the most popular format on Amazon.com,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in a statement.

Amazon had previously forecast that Kindle titles might overtake paperback sales in the second quarter of 2011. As surprising as sales of Kindle books surpassing paperback sales more quickly than Amazon estimates is news that Amazon is still seeing growth in paperback sales—apparently, there are circles where reading is still socially acceptable. Since the beginning of 2010, Amazon says it sold 115 Kindle editions for every 100 paperbacks it sold.

Part of the drag on Amazon’s short-term margin are the company’s ongoing activity to bring over a dozen new distribution centers online; Amazon says it plans to launch more distribution centers as well. These costs, in addition to pricing pressures during an aggressive holiday buying season actually means that Amazon’s $474 million profit for the quarter is a slight drop compared to last year.

Editors' Recommendations

M2 MacBook Air struggles with heat, and we now know why
The torn-down M2 MacBook Air rests on a wooden floor.

Apple's new M2 MacBook Air is now available, and true to form, iFixit tore it down in order to peek inside and take a better look at the hardware.

The teardown revealed a few interesting design choices, but most of all, it showed that Apple must have a lot of faith in the new MacBook Air, seeing as it didn't even equip it with a heat spreader. Another potential issue was also unearthed.

Read more
There’s a major problem with MacBook Pro shipments right now
MacBook Pro on a table.

If you're looking to purchase a new MacBook Pro at this time, you might be waiting for your new laptop until August, according to reports from 9to5Mac.

Orders for the laptop have been slow since their initial launch in 2021, but waiting three months is a hard pill to swallow, especially six months from when the product was announced.

Read more
How to read books on a Mac
Open book on a MacBook in bed.

If you read digital books in addition to physical ones, there’s more than one way to enjoy them. From using your mobile device to an e-reader, you can read books on the go. But you can also delve into a novel, manual, or short story on your Mac.

When you’re working on your computer and need a little break, you can pop open a books app and read a chapter or two. We’ll show you how to read books on a Mac using Apple Books and the Kindle app.

Read more