The Bookseller.com

6th October 2008

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Kindle shows e-book future

07.07.08

Electronic books have been available in some form for a couple of decades, but the 7-month-old Amazon Kindle is flashing the publishing industry its clearest peek at the future of reading - even if analysts say the much-hyped e-reading device won't immediately upend the text business as the iPod has recently transformed the music world, notes the San Francisco Chronicle.

Steve Weinstein, an analyst who tracks Amazon and other Internet commerce sites for Portland's Pacific Crest, predicts that Amazon's global e-book sales could hit $2.5bn by 2012. He estimates that the company sold 40,000 units a month this year at its original price of $399 (the price was recently reduced to $359, including wireless charges) and could sell between 700,000 and 800,000 by the end of 2008. "I don't expect it to have the same impact on the industry as the iPod had on the music industry," Weinstein said.

SF Chronicle

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