Kindle 'Most gifted' product as Amazon sells 110 items per second

by Stevie Smith - Dec 28 2009, 01:32

Clearly keen to reassure consumers, and possibly its own upper-tier executives, retail giant Amazon has begun ringing the post-Christmans bell to showcase the formidable selling power of its iconic Kindle electronic book reader – despite the strength of rival platforms such as the Barnes & Noble Nook.

Moreover, Seattle-based Amazon has revealed 2009’s festive buying spree has seen the Kindle become the most gifted item in the company’s history. And, supporting the eBook reader with regard to digital content, Christmas Day saw Amazon users buying more downloadable Kindle books than traditional print publications for the very first time.

“We are grateful to our customers for making the Kindle the most gifted item ever in our history,” enthused Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in an official statement. “On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the world, we wish everyone happy holidays and happy reading.”

According to Amazon, the site's peak day of performance ahead of Christmas was registered on December 14, at which point customers around the world placed a whopping 9.5 million orders – which equates to around 110 orders per second.

Other notable tech items also selling well through Amazon over the Christmas period include, the 8GB variant of Apple’s non-telephonic iPod Touch, the 4.3-inch Garmin Nuvi 260W GPS system, Casio’s Waveceptor Atomic Dual-Time wristwatch, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, and Nokia’s 5800 XpressMusic phone (unlocked).

Story corrected: Amazon did not sell 9.5 million Kindles on Dec. 14. Figure offered by Amazon was site-wide and not specific to the Kindle electronic reader.

Around the Web