Amazon’s Kindle revolutionized the way people buy and read their books, and it looks like the Kindle is still going strong. That is at least for the moment.
Publishers and book agents at the ongoing BookExpo America convention estimate that Amazon holds a dominant share of e-books on the market at a hefty 60 to 65 percent. Those figures amount to about 950,000 e-books.
Publishers, however, are not as enthusiastic about Amazon’s figures. Catherine Tice, associate publisher of the “New York Review of Books” magazine, is quick to dismiss Kindle sales as a phase that will eventually be surpassed by iPad sales. Another anonymous publisher from the Princeton University Press is skeptical about the Kindle’s numbers.
Consumer Edge’s Faye Landes begs to differ. “No one here (the publishers) wants to say this is bad for their business…its good news for Amazon, but if people buy all their books on Amazon, for Kindle, they aren’t going to spend at bookstores anymore.”
On a related note, the Nook from Barnes & Noble currently holds 25 percent of the e-book market after being released only a few days ago. The colored e-book reader that doubles as a “lite” touch tablet is nipping at the heels of the Kindle, and is poised to continue doing so until Amazon releases a new version of the Kindle to match or surpass the Nook.
