Kindle Outsells Every Other Product On Amazon (And What This Really Means)
According to a breathless press release, the Kindle ereader is the “#1 bestselling product across all product categories on Amazon.” That means it sold more than the iPod Touch. More than the Wii. More than Going Rogue.
Context & Ripple Effects
The arc here runs from scarcity to scale. The Kindle sold out in 5.5 hours at its November 2007 launch, and by June 2008 an OUPblog analysis was arguing Kindle and Sony Reader sales were already exceeding industry estimates [[a:1183411]]. What changes with Amazon's holiday-week press release is the framing: the company claims its own ereader has beaten every other item on the site — the iPod Touch, the Wii, Going Rogue — a self-reported figure Gizmodo greets as 'breathless,' but one consistent with the demand signals analysts had tracked through 2008.
It lands alongside a cluster of unconfirmed signals pointing the same way: sources tell The Bookseller a UK Kindle announcement is expected within days, and there is ongoing speculation about opening the platform to third-party developers. Beneath the hype sits one confirmed mechanic worth watching — Amazon sells new blockbusters like The Lost Symbol as ebooks at a flat $9.99, so every device moved deepens a content relationship priced independently of print.
First-order effects
- Amazon heads into December with its own hardware as the site's bestseller, meaning Apple and Nintendo cede the top slot on Amazon's charts to a device whose core function is steering buyers back into Amazon's bookstore.
- Each Kindle sold strengthens the $9.99 ebook price anchor Amazon established with The Lost Symbol in October, tightening the terms publishers must negotiate for new-release pricing.
Second-order effects
- Sony and other reader makers competing this holiday season face a rival that controls both the bestselling device and the largest retail channel for books — hardware and distribution concentrated in one player.
- The unconfirmed pipeline points to conversion of device momentum into reach: the reported UK plans and developer-platform speculation would turn the Kindle from a US product into a platform competitors must answer on ecosystem, not specs.
Third-order effects
- If device-led selling holds, book retail shifts structurally toward razor-and-blades economics — hardware merchandised to lock buyers into a proprietary store — setting the publisher-retailer power balance by whoever controls the reading device.
- A platform-level Kindle would recast Amazon from a store that sells electronics into an electronics maker that owns its storefront, collapsing the distinction between retailer and device vendor that defined the industry.
The trend: Ereaders are completing the move from early-adopter gadget to mainstream holiday purchase, pushing large online retailers toward device-plus-content-store ecosystems.