Does the Kindle Spur Sales of Old-Timey Print Books?
Yesterday, we told you about Amazon.com‘s purchase of an electronic game developer and the possible implications of that deal for future Kindle developments—just a few hours later, during a conference call to discuss the online retailer’s third-quarter performance, chief finanical officer Thomas Szkutak spoke to the Kindle’s “additive” effect on the sale of “physical book units” (what you and I call “books”). “Post the purchase of a Kindle,” he claimed, “owners buy 1.6 times as many book titles and the same amount of physical books.”
CEO Jeff Bezos jumped in to explain why his company isn’t expecting to be hurt by the current economy the way it was by the dot-com crash at the turn of the century. “I love our position today, becauyse we have been spending so much time making sure we are the low-cost provider,” he said. “Amazon’s offerings are so much more diverse now. However, we have seen deceleration in items above $1,000. But we believe our low prices and free shipping will continue to make us attractive to consumers.” So don’t expect that complete Penguin Classics collection to be flying off the shelves, but ordinary books? Well, we know people say they’ll keep buying books, but let’s see how it goes…
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