Amazon's Kindle tops sales estimates

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 18, 2009 | by Bloomberg News

Amazon.com Inc., expanding into digital downloads of music and books to boost sales, said demand for the Kindle electronic reader beat its estimates.

"Kindle sales have exceeded our most optimistic expectations," Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in a letter to shareholders that was filed with regulators today.

Amazon.com, the world's biggest Internet retailer, began selling a thinner, faster version of the Kindle in February. The original model sold out during the holidays for two years in a row. The company, expanding into new markets to combat slowing sales growth, aims to make every book available for Kindle readers.

Last month, Amazon.com introduced an application allowing people to read books on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod Touch media player. Sony Corp. sells a reader that competes with the Kindle and Google Inc. offers older books for free on mobile phones.