While B&N had some disappointing financial results, Amazon is riding high on some good news this week. They’ve had glowing early reviews for the Kindle 3, and some (unofficial) numbers indicate they’re trouncing Apple in the ebook wars.
First, the Kindle 3 reviews. CNET, Kindle Review, and several other sites received review units, and everyone uniformly loved it! It sounds like the new screen and smaller size really help the Kindle to shine. Len Edgerly did a great video review as well:
So the glowing reviews of the Kindle 3 are certainly one way to kill the “OMG iPad IS GOING TO KILLLLLLL THE KINDLE” meme. But author J.A. Konrath has put another nail in that coffin with his Kindle sales numbers versus iBooks. Apparently, he’s selling 200 ebooks per day on the Kindle, but only 100 per MONTH on iBooks.
To be fair, this is one author, and arguably the Kindle simply casts a far wider net than iBooks. While iPads may have outsold Kindles, the Kindle app is available on the iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Android and PCs and Macs, giving Amazon several times the potential market that Apple has. Even taking that into account, it’s startling how few iBooks Konrath is selling.
Of course, not all news is good news. The Wall Street Journal reported that the exclusive deal Andrew Wylie struck with Amazon has been broken. Apparently, Random House made a deal with Wylie after a dispute over ebook and paper book publishing rights. Disappointing for Amazon, but its a small number of books, and this deal is only opening the books to other stores. Kindle owners and app users won’t notice a difference, and it’s not likely people were switching platforms just for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.
Plus, with Amazon’s press release that the Kindle 3 is their fastest selling Kindle ever, they clearly don’t need exclusive deals to lock in customers! It is only Wednesday, but it certainly seems like a good week to be Amazon!