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Source Claims 240K Kindles Sold

Posted by kdawson on from the drm-and-all dept.

Naturalist writes "Exact data on (the Linux-powered) Kindle sales figures have been hard to come by. Amazon is notoriously tight-lipped about it, and although CEO Jeff Bezos did give some Kindle-related information back in July, the company has yet to break out how many readers it has sold to date. Now TechCrunch claims to have spoken to a source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the company's sales figures. According to this unnamed source, Amazon has sold 240,000 Kindles to date, for an estimated hardware revenue between $86 million and $96 million; media sales would push the total above $100M." We've been following the Kindle since its launch nine months ago.

14 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. You know its slashdot when it's.. by ForestGrump · · Score: 4, Informative

    You know you're reading slashdot when the number given is 1,000 times off.

    240,000 is not 240 million

    --
    Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
    1. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by antek9 · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's not M as in Million, it's M as in Mousand.

      --
      A World in a Grain of Sand / Heaven in a Wild Flower,
      Infinity in the Palm of your Hand / And Eternity in an Hour.
    2. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by Adambomb · · Score: 4, Informative

      Latin. Its the roman numeral for 1000.

      See milli.

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    3. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by mcsqueak · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Bzzzt. For anyone who has worked in banking in the US, M means thousand, and MM means million. It bugs me to this day when people write 240M when they mean 240 million.

      M is also used in the advertising industry for thousands. For example, the cost of an ad buy can be given in thousands of impressions, known as CCM (cost per thousand).

    4. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by sunderland56 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For anyone who has worked in banking in the US, M means thousand, and MM means million.

      The target audience of slashdot is geeks - specifically, engineering/computer geeks. This audience uses K for thousand.

      If you want to use M for thousand on bankerdot.org, sure, go for it.

    5. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by Zouden · · Score: 5, Informative

      Wouldn't it make sense to use K?

      As a rule, Latin is used for numbers less than 1. Greek is used for numbers greater than 1.

      1000 = kilo (greek)
      1/1000 = milli (latin)

      10 = deca (greek)
      1/10 = deci (latin)

      --
      "A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
    6. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by Reverend528 · · Score: 4, Funny

      This audience uses K for thousand

      No, we use K for 2**10, which is 1024, not 1000.

      --
      Badass Resumes
    7. Re:You know its slashdot when it's.. by shellbeach · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's not M as in Million, it's M as in Mousand.

      Yeah, they should have used K as in Kousand ...

  2. Great Title by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

    When I read the 240M title I wondered where my Kindle was in the house and why I could not remember even buying it :)

  3. Re:Compromise on L by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Funny

    240l of Kindles is approx 65 gallons

    But you can only get that if they blend.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  4. Re:It sucks that "K" and "M" are so close together by Larryish · · Score: 5, Funny

    I knew who posted the story without looking.

    mdawson?

  5. Re:Doesn't seem like that many by JakeD409 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The main advantage of the Kindle over the iPhone is actually the fact that it's not a phone; do you realize how high you jump when you're sitting in a quiet place deeply into a horror novel, and right at the scariest part, the damn thing RINGS at you?!

  6. ugh by bcrowell · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's fine that a lot of people seem to like the thing. Reasons I'm not interested:
    • $360 is way too much.
    • DRM.
    • The methods for importing PDF files sound like a hassle.
    • The TOU say you can't sell or give away your books.
    • There are only 145,000 books available. That sounds like a lot, but it's really not.

    I can see how it could come in handy if you're on vacation and want to travel light, but IMO that's not nearly enough to overcome the negatives. I'll probably get an e-book reader in 2030 or something. There's no rush. First I want to see someone get it right.

    --
    Find free books.
  7. Amazon wants Kindle to fail? by DeathSquid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Books are cheap in the U.S. and people have a lot of room to store them, so Kindle is definitely a niche product in its domestic market. However, in other countries books are expensive and often space is at a premium. Kindle offers huge advantages, and would be wildly successful in these markets.

    How does Amazon respond to this market need? They refuse point blank to sell kindle devices or media to anyone outside North America.

    Sure, whispernet is NA only. But a USB connection works just as well...

    What sane company ignores its largest potential market? And when it does, the writing is on the wall. If I was a shareholder, I would be livid.

    So the only question that remains is why Kindle is being set up for failure? Simple incompetence? Xenophobia? Or something more subtle?