Amazon: Kindle Books Outsell Hardcover Books

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Say what you will about the Kindle eReader device itself – but the real secret behind Amazon’s reader isn’t the device, it’s the books. The Kindle vs. iPad is a misnomer, since the Kindle is about selling books. Ever wonder why there are Kindle apps for PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iPhone, etc. etc.? And apparently, Amazon’s eBook business is doing well as they’re reporting that in the last three months, Kindle books have outsold hard cover books.

According to Amazon, for the last three months, Kindle books have been outselling hardcover books on their site by 49%. Granted, hardcover books are more expensive and less popular than paperbacks – but it’s still a milestone in the history of the electronic book and what Amazon calls “a tipping point”.

The price-drops for the Kindle device may be helping the sale of books. Amazon has gone on to report that they’ve sold three times the books in the first half of 2010 than they did in 2009. 630,000 books are for sale in the Kindle store, and according to TechCrunch, 510,000 of them are selling at or under $9.99 – this is where it has once advantage over the iPad’s iBooks store, everything is considerably cheaper.

Five authors have sold over 500,000 copies on the Kindle platform, and they’re all pretty notable authors – Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Stephenie Meyer, James Patterson and Nora Roberts.

As mentioned, the eReader price war is only getting more devices in the hands of regular people. The fact that you can read Kindle books on a lot of modern gadgets doesn’t hurt, either.