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Amazon.com announced Nov. 30 that November was the “best sales month ever” for its Kindle e-Reader-even before the arrival of Web-sales-heavy Cyber Monday, the first Monday after the long Thanksgiving weekend.
While not specifying what those “best ever” sales numbers were, Ian Freed, vice president of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement, “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.”
In the statement, Amazon.com revealed that the Kindle-an image of which is the first thing presented to visitors on the Amazon.com Website-is the site’s No. 1 selling product across all product categories.
The Kindle enables readers to wirelessly purchase and download books, magazines, newspapers and more via 3G or Wi-Fi. It’s priced at $259 and features a 6-inch display that mimics the look of ink on paper.
The gloating surely came across loud and clear to e-reader competitors, which, more than simply working to compete against the Kindle, have found themselves struggling to meet demand in time to take advantage of holiday shopping dollars.
Barnes & Noble has introduced an e-reader for the holidays, the Nook, which features a 7-inch touch screen display and is also priced at $259. The device, however, has been slower to arrive than anticipated, and while Barnes & Noble says Nook demonstration units will be available in stores beginning Dec. 7, only customers who pre-ordered the device should expect one in time for the holidays.
Reuters reported on Nov. 30 that both Barnes & Noble and Sony sent letters to customers stating that, due to high demand, they had sold out of e-readers. Further, Barnes & Noble said it would delay the shipment of devices to stores as it works to provide preordered Nooks.
Sony’s Daily Edition e-reader is Wi-Fi-enabled, features a 7-inch touch screen and is priced at $399.99.
“The number of people that signed up … to be notified of the Daily’s availability exceeded our expectations over the last few months and we expect high demand now that it’s available,” Sony spokesperson Kyle Austin told Reuters on Nov. 19.