Kolakowski reports, “‘As [Apple’s] supply constraints ease, Apple iPad shipments should ramp and it could ship as many as 12-15 [million] iPads in 2010—a compelling base for publishers to consider,’ Wolk wrote. ‘At these rates, the iPad should dwarf the installed base of Amazon’s dedicated Kindle eReader. Thus, Amazon could see its share of eBooks diminish as Apple’s iPad continues to gain traction.'”
“Apple sold 3.27 million iPads in the third fiscal quarter of 2010, contributing to its total revenue of $15.7 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion,” Kolakowski reports. “Analyst firm iSuppli predicted in a July 20 research note that Apple would ship 12.9 million iPads in 2010, followed by 36.5 million in 2011 and 50.4 million in 2012.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Amazon’s Kindle was first released on November 19, 2007; 32 months on the market. Apple’s iPad was first released on April 3, 2010; through June 26 (the end of Apple’s reporting period), that’s less than 3 months on the market.
Amazing. And iPad is only gonna get better. Bring on iOS 4 for iPad!
I wonder how many Windows-based tablets were sold in total in the 10 years prior to the introduction of the iPad? and how long before the number of iPads sold exceeds that number? (if not already…)
@ curious:
About 12
Kindle sales are year over tear up- last time I checked increasing sales are good. Next, the Kindle app is currently better than Apple’s iBooks. As to selection, it’s not even close. go look up 10 books you own or would like to read on both stores. Chances are high that most are on the Kindle and very few on Apple’s store. I cannot name a title Apple has that isn’t on the Kindle store.
Doesn’t matter how much you like Apple’s app- the content is not there yet. Fanboism is no substitute for reality.
I wonder how many Windows Cash Registers have been sold.
I’m an iPad owner and have bought books from both Apple and Kindle since the purchase. One thing to consider; ALL Kindle owners will buy books since that is all it does, NOT ALL and probably a minority will buy books for the iPad.
Every iPad is a Kindle, and a Barnes and Noble Reader, and a Borders Reader, and, of course, an iBooks reader. WIN
@not so fast. Looks like you are missing the bottom line. Every book you can get for the kindle, you can get for the iPad (using the kindle app). The numbers must be about the sold hardware.
Let’s go faster. Go iPad go.
@ Not So Fast
You’re right.
It was brilliant of Amazon to provide an app on the iPad. Amazon is a book seller, not an iPad competitor. The Kindle is just the razor and the books are the blade.
As long as there is a price differential there will be a market for the Kindle. There is room for both.
BTW, a friend of mine says you never want to kill the competition. If you can kill the competition it might mean there is not room for both of you which means eventually there may not be room (there may not be a market for) you.
I dont think the iPad was ever thought of by Apple as a Kindle killer. Apple has a bigger target.
This article compliments the one above. It’s good for a laugh and some more “brilliant” analysticalistic insights.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/technology/20kindle.html
@NotSoFast is right about the volume of books and I wish Apple could get a much bigger library. However, NSF is wrong about the Kindle app being better than the iBooks app IMO. Kindle is clunky and does page numbering, page turning, and landscape reading poorly. Plus Kindle books are themselves full of typos and scattered punctuation marks and other weird symbols. Doesn’t anyone proof them? I didn’t enjoy Stieg Larsson’s three “Girl” books from Amazon nearly as much as the books I’ve gotten from the iBookStore.
Amazon has recently reported that sales of its Kindle books have rocketed recently (due to the iPad app and the price cut on the Kindle) and now far exceed sales of hardcovers:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/215231-amazon-kindle-books-now-outselling-hardcover-books
http://seekingalpha.com/article/215390-amazon-s-e-book-sales-surge-was-it-the-kindle-or-the-ipad-app
http://seekingalpha.com/article/215387-amazon-reports-e-book-sales-exceed-hardcovers-where-is-tipping-point
These analysts really don’t understand Amazon’s Kindle business. As long as Amazon is still selling books through the Kindle app on the iPad, they are still making quite a nice profit. In fact, the Kindle app is far superior to the iBooks app because the selection of books is so much larger.
Amazon started as an online bookstore and remains the largest today. Essentially software in the eBook universe. Apple is essentially a hardware company that produces software to move and differentiate it’s hardware.
Next, Jeff Bezos is a friend of Jobs
and used to sit on the Apple Board. I also seem to remember
reading that Jobs was an early
financial backer of Amazon.
As to the Kindle software- the Mac version is lame, but I have found the iPad version to be O.K. Not perfect, but it will get better
The iPad may well be able to do a semi-reasonable job of imitating the Kindle (and/or Nook, and/or whatever), but it is not as good a book reader in some situations. If you want a “book reader” to use on the beach, for example, get one of the others rather than the iPad.
Sound bleak for the iPad? Hell NO! The iPad CAN do a somewhat reasonable job as a book reader, or it can play games, or surf the ‘net, or check email, or track your budget, or keep stats on your daughter’s soccer team, or … None of which a Kindle can do. At all.
Oh! Forgot to make my point! DOH ! ! !
The Kindle can do quite well as a book reader. Might even pick up a few of the iPad’s tricks! But … this is not a Zero-Sum Game. Both can do quite well, thank you.
Sure. I expect the Kindle’s share to suffer due to the growth of the iPad. But that may not be the case. They may both bloom. Together. Many of us older folk – the ones who actually read – can benefit from the easy-to-read screen. Don’t NEED color.
Just curious… How many people actually go to the “beach”?
I hear over and over “yes, but try and read an iPad on the beach…”
Thanks very much, but I’ll use the extensive number of iPad apps to be productive at work and home during the 99.9% of my life when I don’t happen to be hanging out seaside. When I do go to Florida, I’ll grab a paperback!
I love my iPad so much I can’t wait to buy the next version top of the line too.
Well, I have both – the iPad 64 GB 3G and the Kindle. My wife uses the kindle most of the time and read books and I use my iPad for everything. Of course, she’s constantly fighting me for my iPad. I finally decided I’ll buy her one (an iPad) shortly. She says she’ll keep the kindle around as a backup.
There is room for both actually. One is simply a dedicated e-reader. I have never had the need for a dedicated e-reader, so the iPad is better for me.
As I’ve stated before, the moment Apple announced the iPad, all other black & white screened eBook readers were rendered utterly and completely obsolete.
It’s as if Apple had dropped the Mac Color Classic while everyone else in the world were still using MS-DOS 2.x.
Feel the burn, Amazon (and Nook).
They simply cannot compete with iPad. Apple has set the bar too high.
Kindle better on the beach? How about in bed at night? That’s where the iPad shines!
Um, Amazon hasn’t said how many Kindles they have sold, or even if sales of Kindles are up or down. They said sales of Kindle BOOKS are way up, and now significantly outsell hardcover books.
I wouldn’t be surprised if iPad sales have ALREADY passed sales of Kindle hardware.