Amazon recently announced that, in the four weeks following the release of their Kindle 3, more Kindle readers were sold than during the same time period following any earlier Kindle reader launch. The latest Kindle is, not just still in high demand, but is the fastest selling Kindle ever. As usual, Amazon did not reveal the exact number of Kindles which were sold, but they did advise that, since the release of the new version of the Kindle, customers have bought more Kindles on Amazon.com and the newly opened Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other item.

Amazon announced the Kindle 3 at the end of July. The latest version packs the same 6″ display into a new slimmed down design which is 21% smaller and 15% lighter. Page turns are 20% quicker and the memory size has been increased fro 2GB to 4GB – that’s enough for 3,500 books. Battery life is now a month – with the Wi-Fi turned off – and the e-ink display has better contrast than previously.

An entry level Wi-Fi only Kindle has been introduced, aimed at customers who don’t see the need for 3G. This is on sale for just $ 139, the 3G plus Wi-Fi model sells for $ 189. Those prices represent huge reductions in comparison with the earlier $ 359 Kindle price tag. It’s a clear sign of how the e-book reader market is developing and maturing.

During the first six months of 2010, Amazon sold three times as many Kindle books as they did during the first half of 2009. There are now more than 670,000 Kindle books available – not including the 1.8 million free titles available.

The Kindle remains Amazon’s number one selling product. It is also the most gifted and most wished for item on Amazon’s website.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the strong sales figures of the Kindle and the latest technical enhancements, it would be easy to overlook the significance of the launch of the UK Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk. There are 400,000 Kindle books available at Amazon’s new UK store – which could be a significant factor in boosting international sales still further. If it proves to be successful – and early sales returns suggest that this will be the case – then Amazon may well open further Kindle stores in countries like Japan, France and Germany – all of whom have their own “local” Amazon websites.

Whilst Amazon still faces competition from the Apple iPad this doesn’t seem to concern them too much. At the moment, there is more than enough daylight between the prices of the Kindle and the iPad to make the Kindle the natural choice for anyone whose main interest is in reading books. The sale of e-books will become increasingly important as the e-book reader market develops and matures. The fact that Kindle book sales are outstripping the sales of Apple’s iBooks by a factor of sixty to one must be very encouraging for Amazon.

Amazon recently announced that, in the 4 weeks following the release of their third generation Kindle, more Kindle readers were sold than during the same time period following any previous Kindle reader launch. The new, improved Kindle is not just in high demand – it is the fastest selling Kindle reader ever. As usual, Amazon did not reveal the exact number of Kindles which were sold, but they did advise that, since the release of the new version of the Kindle, customers have bought more Kindles on Amazon.com and the newly opened Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other item.

Amazon announced the Kindle 3 at the end of July. The latest version packs the same 6″ display into a new slimmed down design which is 21% smaller and 15% lighter. Page turn speed is 20% faster and memory size has been boosted from 2GB to 4GB – sufficient to store 3,500 books. Battery life is now a month – with the Wi-Fi turned off – and the e-ink display has better contrast than previously.

Amazon also introduced an entry level Wi-Fi only model, for customers who don’t anticipate the need for 3G. This is on sale for just $ 139, the 3G plus Wi-Fi model sells for $ 189. Those prices represent huge reductions in comparison with the earlier $ 359 Kindle price tag. It’s a clear indication that the e-book reader market is maturing.

During the first six months of 2010, Amazon sold three times as many Kindle books as they did during the same period of 2009. There are now in excess of 670,000 titles available on the Kindle store – not including the 1.8 million free titles available.

The Kindle continues to be the number one selling product on Amazon’s site. It is also the most wished for and gifted item on the Amazon website.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the high sales figures of the Kindle and the latest technical improvements, it would be easy to overlook the importance of the opening of the UK Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk. There are 400,000 Kindle books available at Amazon’s new UK store – which could be a significant factor in boosting international sales still further. If it proves to be successful – and early sales returns suggest that this will be the case – then Amazon may well open further Kindle stores in countries like Japan, France and Germany – all of whom have their own “local” Amazon websites.

Whilst Amazon still faces competition from the Apple iPad this doesn’t seem to concern them too much. For the moment at least, the price differential between the Kindle and the iPad is large enough to make the Kindle the natural choice for most customers who are primarily interested in reading books. As the e-book reader market develops and matures, considerably more importance will be attached to the sale of e-books as opposed to e-book readers. The fact that Kindle book sales dwarf iBook sales by a factor of 60 to 1 speaks volumes.

This time last year, the e-book reader market was like the Wild West – or maybe the gold rush would be a more appropriate metaphor. Following the stunning success which Amazon had enjoyed with its Kindle reader – firstly with the Kindle 2.0 in February of 2009 and then with the large display DX model in the summer of the same year – a small army of personal electronics firms seemed to be developing, releasing or updating e-book readers of their own in order to grab a share of the new and rapidly developing market.

Sony and Barnes and Noble were bursting a gut to get their new readers launched before the 2009 festive season and Samsung, Plastic Logic, Asus and a host of others were rushing to get their readers on the market as fast as they could. The Computer Electronics Show (CES), which took place in Las Vegas in early 2010, had a special zone dedicated to e-book readers for the first time ever. E-book readers were a hot developing market.

Right now however, no more than a few months later, it’s an entirely different scenario. The price of e-book readers has plunged. Amazon have now introduced an entry level, Wi-Fi only, Kindle priced at $ 139 – not much more than a third of the $ 359 price which the Kindle 2.0 launched. The price of Barnes and Noble’s Nook reader is also down on its launch price at $ 149 – and you can expect to see this fall further prior to the festive season.

A number of e-book readers which were in development – including the Que from Plastic Logic – have been abandoned. The market is entering a new phase in its development and whether or not pure electronics manufacturers can compete on e-book reader sales alone must be open to debate. The Amazon business model lends itself very well to selling lower priced readers and making a profit on the follow up sales of Kindle books. Barnes and Noble could employ a similar strategy – but it’s somewhat debatable as to whether or not they could make use of economies of scale in the same way that Amazon can.

Clearly the release of Apple’s iPad tablet computer has been an important influence in this. It’s certain that the price of e-book readers would have trended downwards anyway – but the iPad’s launch certainly speeded things up a bit. However, bearing in mind the fact that the new third generation Kindles sold out shortly after they were released, the iPad doesn’t look like the Kindle Killer that it was expected to be.

Even disregarding the debate about e-ink displays being better for reading on than backlit screens, there is – currently at any rate – more than enough daylight between the Kindle price and the price of even the entry model of iPad to make the Kindle a very attractive option for prospective customers whose chief interest is reading books. The fact that the iPad has a monthly download/connection fee will not please everyone.

It does look as if there is ample room in the market for both the Amazon Kindle and the iPad to co-exist – for the foreseeable future at any rate. Other manufacturers of e-book readers, including big players such as Barnes and Noble and Sony, may well find things tough as hardware prices keep dropping.