In what could be a landmark moment in the struggle between old versus new technology, Amazon has announced that it now sells more copies of its Kindle ebooks than traditional paperbacks.
The online retailer, in posting its latest financial results, revealed that paid-for sales of the electronic format outstrip its total sales of paperbacks – although combined sales of paperbacks and hardbacks still seem to maintain print's number one spot overall.
The company said in a statement:
"Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than paperback books. Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the company has sold 115 Kindle books. Additionally, during this same time period the company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books.
"This is across Amazon.com's entire US book business and includes sales of books where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the numbers even higher."
Amazon's ambiguous use of figures suggests that the online retailer still sells 120 print books for every 100 ebooks sold. But at this rate it can't be too long before Gutenberg's offspring is dethroned.
The company had previously announced that sales of the third generation version of the Kindle have surpassed sales of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the bestselling single product in the company's history.
And Amazon still won't say reveal how many Kindles it has sold in total, although some estimates put it at eight million. The company also sells its Kindle ebooks format through other electronic devices, including the iPhone and iPad
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