Amazon.com said its Kindle e-book reader, which makes use of Sprint's EV-DO network to enable wireless shopping and over-the-air content downloading, was the best-selling electronic device on its site in 2008. The online retailer also said the Kindle was the most popular gift item in the electronics category. Amazon listed its best-selling items in terms of number of units sold, as opposed to sales revenue. The retailer, however, didn't reveal any sales numbers.
Sales were bolstered, it appears, by Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of the Kindle back in October, when she announced the Kindle was her "favorite new gadget" during her TV show. The Kindle allows users to buy and download books directly from Amazon, and the EV-DO wireless connection is offered at no additional charge. It is the industry's first test in open access as Sprint made the deal with Amazon.com back in November 2007.
Earlier in 2008, analysts upped their projections for the Kindle's sales. "Turns out the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world," Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a note to clients this past summer. He estimated that Amazon will sell up to 380,000 Kindle devices this year, up from his previous forecast of 190,000. Mahaney said at the time that he expected Kindle and related revenue of more than $1 billion by 2010.
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