Amazon’s new Kindle is its best-selling product of all time

Amazon still isn’t talking Kindle numbers, but at least we know its e-reader is a smashing success. The company announced this morning that its third-generation Kindle is its best-selling product ever, surpassing the final Harry Potter book.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos pointed to the Kindle’s new $139 price point as a major factor in its success over color tablets like Apple’s iPad. “It’s low enough that people don’t have to choose,” he said. Amazon customers report that they’re using their tablets for games, movies and web browsing, while the Kindle is mostly used for reading sessions.

We’ve been saying for a while that the Kindle isn’t actually competing with the iPad and other tablets, and the e-reader’s continued success over the holiday season proves it.

We reported last week that Amazon was expected to sell around 8 million Kindles in 2010, based on information from people familiar with Amazon’s sales projections. In comparison, Amazon sold 2.4 million Kindles in 2009, and Apple reported that it had shipped 7.5 million iPads as of October.

Amazon says that the Swedish bestseller “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” was its most purchased and most gifted Kindle book on Christmas.