• RELATED STORIES

• Amazon to launch commercial fan fiction platform

  Amazon Publishing has annou...

• Daunt: restructure 'not primarily about costs'

  Waterstones' managing d...

• Major restructure for Waterstones management staff

  Waterstones has begun a com...

• Business profile: Ian Owens, manager Waterstones Argyll Street

  Turning an unprofitable sto...

• In depth: New Adult

  If last year’s erotic...

Amazon: no new Kindle until 2009

23.10.08 | Philip Jones

Third quarter sales at Amazon.com rose by 31% to $4.26bn and total media sales increased 19%, to $2.49bn. However, sales gains were below increases posted in the second quarter.

The company said some of the reason for the slower growth was due to strong sales in July 2007 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Announcing results for the quarter ending 30th September, the company said that Kindle titles accounted for more than 10% of unit sales for books available in both digital and print formats, but it had no plans of releasing a new version of the e-reader until 2009.

Operating income increased 26% to $154m in the third quarter ($123m in 2007), and international segment sales (UK, Germany, Japan, France and China) were $1.96bn, up 33% from third quarter 2007, and increased to 46% of worldwide net sales compared with 45%.

"We remain relentlessly focused on delivering value to customers through lower prices, improved selection and our free shipping offers, including Amazon Prime," said Jeff Bezos, founder and c.e.o. of Amazon.com. "Customers saved more than $700 million with our global free-shipping programs over the past twelve months, and we expect more customers than ever will take advantage of the benefits of Amazon Prime this holiday season."

Amazon gave a wide ranging forecast for fourth quarter sales, projecting gains of between 6% to 23%.

• Amazon.com
• ebooks
• Home
• Kindle
• Philip Jones
• Retail