Amazon’s line of Kindle readers are undoubtedly popular among consumers this holiday season, but it’s difficult to determine exactly how many have sold.
Today the company released new information about Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales data that vaguely indicate that Kindles are selling well — without actually stating any hard sales numbers.
For instance, Amazon stated that Cyber Monday was “the biggest day ever for Kindle sales worldwide” and “Kindle Fire HD is the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon worldwide since launch.” (See the full list of “milestones” below.)
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
It’s really hard to tell whether Amazon is actually breaking sales records with its refreshed line of Kindles, or if the company is once again playing cheerleader for its own products as a way to avoid disclosing possibly lackluster results. Unlike last year, Amazon doesn’t have the benefit of selling its Kindle devices inside two of the largest physical retailers, Walmart and Target.
Amazon was a little more forthcoming with sales data last holiday season, and released enough data that suggested it sold about 5 million Kindle Fires. Yet overall, Amazon has been notoriously vague about its Kindle sales.
It’ll be interesting to see how shareholders will react if Amazon once again decides to stay silent about Kindle sales (broken down by tablets and e-readers), digital sales, and digital sales through Kindle devices.
Amazon’s Kindle “milestones”:
- Cyber Monday 2012 was the biggest day ever for Kindle sales worldwide.
- The top 4 spots on the worldwide Amazon best sellers list since launch nearly three months ago are Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fires.
- To celebrate Cyber Monday, Amazon.com offered a special deal—just $129 for the Kindle Fire. Customers flocked to the deal, making this the biggest Cyber Monday deal ever for Amazon.com.
- Kindle Fire HD is the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon worldwide since launch.
- 9 out of the top 10 best-selling products on Amazon worldwide since 9/6 are Kindles, Kindle accessories and digital content.
Photo by Jennifer Van Grove/VentureBeat
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More