Amazon posted its Q3 financial results yesterday and easily beat Wall Street expectations with a solid bump in revenue and net income. Growth was fueled by strong sales of the company's e-book reader, the Kindle, but other segments performed well also. The international branching out also played a part in the company's great quarter.

“Kindle has become the #1 bestselling item by both unit sales and dollars – not just in our electronics store but across all product categories on Amazon.com. It’s also the most wished for and the most gifted. We are grateful for and energized by this customer response,” Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said in a statement. “Earlier this week we began shipping the latest generation Kindle. Its 3G wireless works in the U.S. and 100 countries, and we’ve just lowered its price to $259.”

Revenue went up a whopping 28 percent to $5.45 billion in the third quarter up from $4.26 billion last year in the same period, a very good posting considering the economic conditions. Net income saw an even bigger bump, rising 69 percent since last year to $199 million, or 45 cents per share. Analysts predicted income of 33 cents per share. Net income was at $118 million last year in the third quarter.

The company also expects a very strong fourth quarter with sales between $8.1 billion and $9.1 billion, a 21 percent growth or a 36 percent growth respectively compared to the same period last year. The holiday season is of course the best period for retailers and Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is no exception.

Amazon boasted the recent release of the international version of the Kindle as well as its expanding e-book store, which are making quite a bit of money for the retailer, though the company doesn't release individual revenue for the e-book business. That may change in the future though as the Kindle grows to become a bigger component of Amazon's business. Revenue from the Kindle store is estimated to be about $300 million for 2009 but is expected to grow to $1.9 billion by 2012.