gadget blogger .co.uk

Amazon recently announced that, in the four 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. Amazon didn’t reveal precisely how many Kindles were sold, but they did confirm that, since the release of the upgraded Kindle, customers have purchased more Kindles on Amazon.com and the new Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other item.

Amazon unveiled their latest generation Kindle 3 at the end of July. The new Kindle 3 houses the same size of 6″ display in a smaller (21%) and lighter (15%) casing. Page turn speed is 20% faster and memory size has been boosted from 2GB to 4GB - sufficient to store 3,500 books. Battery life with Wi-Fi turned off is now up to 4 weeks and the e-ink technology display has better contrast than ever.

A new entry level Wi-Fi only Kindle was introduced for customers who don’t feel the need for 3G. This sells for $ 139, with the 3G plus Wi-Fi model selling for $ 189. Those prices represent massive reductions on the previous $ 359 Kindle price. It’s a clear sign that the e-book reader market is entering a new phase.

During the first half of 2010, Amazon sold three times as many Kindle books as they did during the same period of 2009. The number of books available on the Kindle store has now grown to over 670,000 titles – and that doesn’t include the 1.8 million free out of copyright books available.

The Kindle continues to be Amazon’s top selling item. It is also the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the strong sales returns for the Kindle and the latest technical upgrades, it would be easy to overlook the significance 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.

Amazon may face competition from Apple’s iPad - but they seem to be largely unconcerned. The difference in price between the Kindle and the iPad is, for the moment at least, large enough to tip the scales in favour of the Kindle for most customers whose chief interest is 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.