Amazon released information about its Black Friday sales for the Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets. While Amazon never releases exact numbers in the way Apple does, it did announce great results for its Black Friday sales.
According to a company press release, Fire tablets sales were up threefold over the same time frame a year ago, while sales of Amazon Kindle ereaders went up four fold over last year.
Of course, without knowing hard numbers it is difficult to know the actual impact on global shipments. However, the increase in Kindle electronic book reader sales comes as somewhat of a surprise. Many analysts have written ereaders off their list of growing consumer electronics. With declining sales over the year, it seems that ereaders are becoming a more popular Holiday gift item. With the price for the Kindle Touch ereader starting well below $100, it could very well serve as a gift in this price range.
Amazon also did not mention that the $79 Kindle Touch was on sale for $49 and the Fire HD 6 was available for $79 instead of the usual $99. The Fire HD 7 was on sale for $109 versus $139. This represents roughly 20% to 40% discounts.
Besides the discounts, the drive towards the ebook readers is difficult to understand. Throughout the year, sales numbers for book readers declined, while the percentage of books published in ebook format increased. This trend was explained by many consumers reading not on a dedicated ebook reader but on their tablets and smartphones.
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So, who can explain this sudden increase in sales numbers? I am assuming that Amazon as one of the key suppliers for ebook readers will affect overall sales numbers for this kind of device. By the way other makers like Barnes and Noble as well as Kobo were also running deals on their respective readers.
The last part of Amazon’s announcement dealt with the release of the Amazon Fire TV for $69 (30% off). OTT is becoming a popular area in the US. – Norbert Hildebrand
