Kindle

Amazon's website for the Kindle  
Amazon's website for Kindle Fire  
   
Sales figures:  
Amazon doesn't release sales figures so the best we have are estimates:  
2007 - 189,000 units  
2008 - 380, 000 units  
2009 - 500,000 units (cumulatively about 1% of households)  
2010 - 2 million units  
2011 - 8 milliion units!?  
   
Comparing the Kindle to other com tech devices first year sales:  
Nintendo Gameboy (1997) - 2.8 million  
Blackberry (1999) - 165,000  
iPod (2001) - 376,000  
iPhone (2007) - 5.4 million  
   
Kindle book sales  
Amazon says that currently, for books available on the Kindle, sales are 105% of the same books in print  
in other words, if a hard copy sells 10,000 units, the Kindle version would sell 10,500 units  
in 2009 it was 35%, in 2008 12%  
(these figures are from Amazon)  
   
Competition from the Nook and other e-reader devices (ex. iPad)  
The Nook was launched in Dec. 2009  
The Nook  
A comparison  
Some industry estimates state that the Nook outsold the Kindle in March of 2010  
It is estimated that Kindle has 67% market share in tablets, Nook 22%  
It is estimated that Amazon has 58% market share of e-book sales, Nook 27%  

(this infers that Nook owners are more avid readers)

 
Both Barnes and Noble and Amazon are seeking new customers  

The Nook is now available at Best Buy

 

The Kindle is available at Target (Best Buy has announced that they will sell the Kindle Fire)

 
   
Print books fight back - Walmart and others offer some current hardcover best sellers for as low as $4.95  
Amazon offers some titles that won't be issued in print (ex. Stephen King's "Ur")  
   
   
Other issues:  
Skimming and scanning vs. deep reading  
http://blog.smu.edu/forum/2012/03/22/research-kindle-ing-interest-among-reluctant-readers/