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Bezos: money comes from content, not devices

12.10.12 | Lisa Campbell

Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos has admitted the company does not make any money on its sales of hardware products, while saying the market must “embrace change” as digital book sales grow.

Two weeks before the Kindle Fire tablets are due to go on sale in the UK (25th October), the technology entrepreneur told the BBC that Amazon sold its e-readers and tablets at cost prices, only making money from the sale of content.

"We want to make money when people use our devices, not when they buy them," Bezos said.

When asked if the market had reached a tipping point between physical and digital books, he said that the move to digital was leading to more book sales overall. “It is changing very rapidly. What we find is that when people buy a Kindle, they read four times as much as they did before they bought the Kindle and they can read a review and get the book in 60 seconds,” he said. “People really love reading this way but they do not stop buying paper books. They read four times as much but they do not stop buying both kinds of books.”

He defended the accusation that some thought him ruthless in his pursuit of his vision of the future of books by saying that new technology creates change. "If you're an incumbent change is scary but you have to lean into the future and embrace change," he said.

The business leader also revealed the company’s other products such as clothing lines were selling well and were proving “big business” for Amazon.

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