14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon had a solid fourth quarter, unsurprising for a retailer, even an online one. But its growth was beyond the usual holiday season uplift in sales, revenue was up 42 percent from last year, from $6.70 billion in 2008 to $9.2 billion in 2009. This comes after similar great results in Q3. Income was also on the rise in Q4 and full-year numbers followed the same trend for both revenue and net income. And, as per usual at Amazon's recent quarterly earnings releases, the company boasted just how well the Kindle was doing, without actually revealing sales numbers.
The online retailer operates on a rather small margin so, even with a revenue of almost $10 billion in this quarter alone, net income was at $384 million in Q4, or $0.85 per share, above analysts’ expectations of $0.72 per share. This was up 71 percent from the same period in 2008, when net income was at $225 million.
For the full year, revenue was at $24.51 billion, 28 percent over 2008's $19.17 billion. Amazon says it would have been a 29 percent growth excluding the $182 million 'lost' due to fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates.
Kindle
“Millions of people now own Kindles,” Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, said. “And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions, we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books -- free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It’s been an exciting 27 months.”
It sure does sound like the Kindle is doing very well at the moment, now that "millions of people" own it. If it's two million or 20 million, that's another matter and Amazon isn't saying. Sales-wise, 6 e-books for every 10 real books sold is a solid number as the number of people buying for the Kindle is bound to be significantly smaller than the one of those buying physical books. Then again, you don't buy a Kindle if you don't like books, so this is pretty much a given. Kindle books also sell for significantly less than real books, though, Amazon's cut may be bigger on the former.
The Kindle seems to be doing pretty well, overall, which is especially important now that the Apple iPad has been revealed. Hailed by many as the Kindle-killer, every new gadget has to 'kill' something to make the headlines, the fact is, in its current form the iPad doesn't compete with the Kindle. Yes, it can read e-books, it will have its very one e-book store and even the Amazon Kindle Store will be available on it. But, so does the iPhone, so do netbooks, so do any PC or Mac. Apart from a flashy interface, the iPad doesn't bring anything new and, in the end, the actual act of reading e-books is much, much better on the Kindle thanks to its e-ink display, with which iPad's 9.7 inch full-color display, while gorgeous, can't compete with in practicality.