Amazon announce Kindle now outsells printed books

In a recent press release Amazon.com announced that Kindle books are now outselling printed books.

Hardcover and paperback books were first introduced to Amazon in 1995; in 2007 the Kindle was introduced.

It was in July last year that Kindle started to outsell hardback books. Six months on and Kindle is outselling paperback books as well and has become the sites most popular format for buying books. For every 100 printed books sold, 105 books are sold in the Kindle format.

Priced from around $114, or from £111 in the UK, the Kindle allows people to store up to 3,500 books.

Commenting in a press release, Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com, said:

"Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly - we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.”

"In addition, we're excited by the response to Kindle with Special Offers for only $114, which has quickly become the bestselling member of the Kindle family. We continue to receive positive comments from customers on the low $114 price and the money-saving special offers. We're grateful to our customers for continuing to make Kindle the bestselling e-reader in the world and the Kindle Store the most popular e-bookstore in the world."

950,000 books are now available via Kindle and the books are often cheaper too.

The popularity of Kindle looks set to grow and it has proved popular in the UK as well with Kindle now outselling hardback books.