Amazon has announced that since 2007 they have sold tens of millions of Kindles, which is a fairly ambiguous. This means they have sold between 20 million and 90 million e-readers in the past ten years. With so many digital reading devices in the market, bodes well for the future of their ebook unit. In a recent Author Earnings report in from 2016 to early 2017 Amazon sold over 487,298,000 Kindle books.
Amazon reported that in 2017 net sales increased 31% to $177.9 billion, compared with $136.0 billion in 2016. Excluding the $210 million favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales increased 31% compared with 2016. Operating income decreased 2% to $4.1 billion, compared with operating income of $4.2 billion in 2016.
More new paid members joined Prime in 2017 than any previous year — both worldwide and in the U.S and more than five billion items shipped with Prime worldwide.
Michael Kozlowski has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past twelve years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.