We all knew this day would come but it arrived sooner than some of us had expected. On July 19, Amazon announced it had sold more e-books than hardcover books over the past three months. Further, the growth rate in e-books accelerated during that time. In the month leading up to the announcement, Amazon sold 180 e-books for every 100 hardcover books, compared with a ratio of 143-to-100 during the three-month span
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There’s a lot that these numbers don’t tell us, starting with the raw numbers of Kindle and e-book units or the revenue associated with those product lines. Growth rates can be dodgy without broader context, particularly if the trend curve starts at a low point.
What we can glean from Amazon’s update is that the e-book business is a vibrant and fast-growing segment of the digital content universe. Analyst Mike Shatzkin, founder and CEO of the Idea Logical Company,predicted that, within a decade, fewer than 25% of books sold would be print versions.
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Mike Egan of ComputerWorld elaborated on this point by summing up 13 reasons why iPad owners still need Kindles. The main takeaway from Mr. Egan’s commentary is that the iPad does exactly what the Kindle doesn’t, and vice-versa. As long as this remains the case, there should be room for both items in consumer’s gadget wish lists.
Does this mean that libraries who lend technology should have both devices available? Here's a growing list of libraries (academic and public) that offer e-readers to be borrowed by users.
The article also includes a bar graph showing U.S. eBook Reader Sales Estimates for 2010 and 2013.
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