AT&T stores to carry Amazon's Kindle 3G

Reuters:

AT&T will begin carrying online retailer Amazon.com Inc's market-leading Kindle electronic reader next week, expanding the device's availability in stores.

AT&T said it would start selling the Kindle 3G at its stores across the United States beginning on Sunday and feature it in its device displays.

Amazon, whose Kindle competes with Barnes & Noble Inc's Nook and Apple Inc's iPad, has been trying to make the Kindle more widely available for sale beyond its own web site on the assumption shoppers prefer to try e-readers before buying them.

Last year, office supplies retailer Staples Inc, discount chain Target Corp and Best Buy Co Inc all started carrying the Kindle.

Forrester Research estimated in December that about 6 million Kindles had been sold at that point since its launch in 2007, far ahead of the Nook and other devices.

Study: Kindle Tweets Outpace Nook Tweets 2 to 1

Crave - CNET: "Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble don't report sales figures for their respective e-readers, the Nook and Kindle. But one company, Crimson Hexagon, has taken it upon itself to formulate some opinions about the e-reader market by charting and analyzing Twitter conversations for both the Nook and Kindle, as well as the iPad as an e-reader."

Amazon: 'Millions' of Kindles Sold this Quarter

CNET: " ... the little nugget of info was embedded in a thank you to customers for helping Amazon sell millions of Kindles and a reminder that the device is offering the latest, 'most advanced' E Ink Pearl display (which the e-ink Nook doesn't have). 'Thanks to you, in just the first 73 days of this holiday quarter, we've already sold millions of our all-new Kindles with the latest E Ink Pearl display,' the post reads. 'In fact, in the last 73 days, readers have purchased more Kindles than we sold during all of 2009.'"

Market Researchers: eReaders Will Hit Sales "Tipping Point" this Holiday Shopping Season

NYTimes.com:

“This is the tipping-point season for e-readers, there’s no question,” said Peter Hildick-Smith, president of the Codex Group, a book market research company. “A lot more books are going to be sold in e-book format. It also means that a lot fewer people are going to be shopping in bookstores.”

Only a small slice of the book-buying public has bought an e-reader. About nine million devices are in circulation in the United States, according to Forrester Research.

That could jump in the coming weeks as consumers begin their holiday shopping, analysts predict. According to Forrester, at least 10.3 million e-readers could be in circulation by the end of the year. ...

French Study: Digital Sales To Represent 25% of International Book Market by 2015

theBookseller.com: "Between 15% and 20% of the [international] book reading public will own electronic devices and up to 25% of books will be sold in digital form by 2015, according to a new French study. The study showed that multimedia tablets such as iPad should account for between two-thirds and three-quarters of total sales and ereaders such as Kindle the remaining third to a quarter. The study was conducted among 3,000 people in six countries—France, Germany, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States and carried out by management consultants Bain & Company. The findings were revealed at the weekend during the third cultural forum in Avignon." My perspective: The percentage is bound to be significantly higher in the United States and Great Britain, countries already well ahead of the curve vis-a-vis installed bases for e-readers.

Study: One in Five People Who Buy Kindle Books from Amazon Don't Own a Kindle Device

LA Times: "When Apple unveiled its iPad in January with its full-color high-resolution glory, many assumed it would be end of story for Amazon.com's Kindle book store and its black-and-white reader. Turns out the iPad has actually helped Amazon. Not only are sales of the Kindle device expected to grow 140% this year to nearly 5 million units from 2009, but digital book sales via the Kindle store are on track to grow 195% to $701 million in 2010, according to Cowen and Co., which released a report Monday on the digital book market. Greasing those book sales are Amazon's Kindle app for iPhone and iPad ..."

Analyst: More iPads out there than Kindles

From eWeek: "Last night, Apple stated it has shipped 3.27 [million] iPads since the April product launch, surpassing our estimate for an installed base of [around 3 million] Amazon Kindles to date despite supply constraints,” Marianne Wolk, an analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, wrote in a co-authored research note to investors. "However, Kindle device sales have also accelerated recently, with the growth rate of Kindle units up 3x since the June 21 price reduction from $259 to $189."

Note my previous comments about Amazon's ambition (I presume) to win the content and ecosystem war rather than the hardware war. Also note today's post about Amazon's new content deal with the Wylie Agency.