Amazon announced Wednesday that its latest Kindle model is the best selling Kindle yet, though that wasn’t backed up by actual sales figures. The company said that more units were ordered in the first four weeks of availability than for any model in the past, and that it was the most popular overall item in both the U.S. and UK markets for Amazon.
“Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon.com for two years running and our new generation Kindles are continuing that momentum,” Steven Kessel, senior vice president, Amazon Kindle, said in a statement.
The Kindle is Amazon’s own ebook reader, a dedicated device for reading ebooks, newspapers, and magazines. Many see the Kindle as being in competition with Apple’s iPad, which also has ebook software as well as a Kindle app on the App Store. Amazon updated the product line on July 29th, 2010, introducing a new WiFi-only model with a pricepoint of US$139.
The online retail giant has often touted each new generation of Kindle as the most popular yet, but the company steadfastly refuses to offer actual sales numbers. Still, to increase sales in the midst of Apple’s phenomenal success with the iPad is feat unto itself, and a feat that strongly suggests there is still room in the market for an inexpensive dedicated ereader.
Amazon’s WiFi-only Kindle 3