Amazon Kindle Sales Said to be 8 Million, Exceeding Estimates

BusinessWeek:

Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is likely to sell more than 8 million Kindle electronic-book readers this year, at least 60 percent more than analysts have predicted, according to two people who are aware of the company’s sales projections.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated, on average, that the company would sell 5 million Kindles in 2010. Last year, Amazon sold about 2.4 million Kindles, said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the company doesn’t disclose Kindle sales figures. ...

Analysts at Citigroup, Barclays Capital, BGC Partners LP and ThinkEquity LLC have estimated that Amazon will sell about 5 million Kindles this year. Caris & Co. predicted 4.8 million, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. projected 4 million to 5 million.

Amazon’s sales demonstrate that the market for stand-alone e-readers is growing even as Apple Inc. builds demand for the iPad tablet, which lets users read books, watch videos and carry out computing tasks. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, sold 7.46 million iPads from their April debut through September. ...