There’s no doubt that Amazon sells a lot of Kindles; it’s the most popular product on a site that sells many very popular things. But we’re five years into the Kindle Age, and we still don’t have a single firm sales number to pin on them. Come on, guys! Let us quantify how impressed we are!
The latest evasive manoeuvre from Bezos’ merry band says that yesterday was the “biggest day ever” for Kindle sales worldwide (owing in part, likely, to a cut-rate Kindle Fire sell-off) and that “9 out of the top 10 best-selling products” on Amazon over the last seven-plus weeks have been Kindles, Kindle accessories or Kindle content.
All very impressive, but so frustratingly coy. Kudos to Amazon, I guess, for not getting into a slate-measuring contest. On the other hand, since Amazon won’t say how many Kindles it’s sold, it leaves itself open to rampant speculation from the blogosphere. For example, I’m pretty sure Amazon has only sold eight Kindles. And I’ve bought three of them.
Wildly wrong? Probably. But until Amazon says otherwise, I have to go with my gut. Besides, that would at least go a long way towards explaining last quarter’s earnings. [Amazon]