Why Is Amazon So Secretive About Its Best Selling Kindle Numbers?

The new Kindles are shipping this week and Amazon put out a press release saying that the new device is the fastest selling eReader its ever had. But still, they refuse to say exactly how many devices they have actually sold.

PC World investigated why: “Perplexed, I asked IDC mobile device analyst Susan Kevorkian, who tracks the e-reader market, to weigh in on the matter. ‘There are a variety of reasons,’ Kevorkian replied via email. ‘Short term, Amazon’s policy means that Kindle won’t get directly, and quite possibly unfavorably, compared to iPad in terms of shipments as the iPad grows in popularity and cannibalizes the e-reader market.’”

While this might be one reason, the PC World piece does point out that Amazon is selling eBooks on iPads through its apps. So far Amazon has only given numbers when it comes to eBook sales. Swedish noir author Stieg Larsson sold more than a million Kindle eBooks and Amazon was happy to share the news. They were also happy to share the fact that eBooks now outsell paperbacks on Amazon.com, but without giving exact numbers.

If Amazon is the leader in eBook sales, why are they so afraid to share what exactly they are up to? Will it kill the hype?

What do you think?

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