People are changing the way they read books. Amazon put out a press release on Christmas Day saying that more Kindle books were sold this holiday season than ”physical”  books. 

I don’t have one yet.  I still love to curl up in my cozy bed and read a book while I  hold it in my hands. I like the feel of the paper and the heft of the book. Sometimes I like to underline and highlight things in the book.  I also like to mark my place with a bookmark or by turning the page corner over (only on paperback books, however.)

On the other hand, my brother Walter (who is six years my senior) digests books at am amazinng pace, so he loves his Kindle becsause it allows him to acquire and consume several new titles each week. And my friend Ross loves his because he likes to read the New York Times on it each morning.

I imagine I’ll get one at some point, but for now, I am going to stick with my old-fashioned paper books.

On Christmas Day, for the First Time Ever, Customers Purchased More Kindle Books Than Physical Books
SEATTLE, Dec 26, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced that Kindle has become the most gifted item in Amazon’s history. On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books. The Kindle Store now includes over 390,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including New York TimesBestsellersand New Releases.
“We are grateful to our customers for making Kindle the most gifted item ever in our history,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the world, we wish everyone happy holidays and happy reading!”

On Amazon’s peak day, Dec. 14, 2009, customers ordered over 9.5 million items worldwide, which is a record-breaking 110 items per second.

Amazon Worldwide 2009 Holiday Facts (includes www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.co.jp and www.amazon.ca):

Amazon shipped to over 178 countries.
One of our most remote shipments contained the EMU Australia Toddler Boot and was delivered to Atqasuk, Alaska.
On the peak day this season, Amazon’s worldwide fulfillment network shipped over 7 million units.
Amazon shipped over 200,000 units to APO/FPO addresses.
Amazon shipped more than 99 percent of orders in time to meet holiday deadlines worldwide.

Amazon.com 2009 Holiday Facts (www.amazon.com only):

Amazon customers purchased enough fruit cake to equal the weight of a 1967 Volkswagen Bug.
Amazon customers bought enough gingerbread house kits that if stacked on top of each other would be as tall as the Sears Tower.
If all the computers customers purchased this holiday were stacked one on top of the other, they would be more than twice as high as Mt. Everest.
Amazon customers bought over 50 times more Light Therapy devices this holiday season than there are sunny days in Seattle the entire year.
For the holiday time period alone, Amazon customers purchased enough shoot-and-share camcorders to supply 50 years’ worth of non-stop YouTube watching.
Amazon customers bought enough Levi’s jeans to clothe everyone at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Amazon customers purchased so many Blu-ray disc players that if you lined them up side to side, they would stretch for more than 27 miles.
During the 2009 holiday season, Amazon customers bought enough 8 GB iPod touches to play 442 years of continuous music.
In 2009, Amazon customers purchased enough heart rate monitor watches to put one on the wrist of everyone who finished the New York City marathons in 2008 and 2009.
Amazon customers purchased enough Frustration-Free Package items to eliminate over 32,000 pounds of frustrating plastic materials, such as plastic clamshells.
The last One-Day Prime order that was delivered in time for Christmas, was placed on Dec. 23 at 9:17 p.m. Pacific and shipped to Boca Raton, Florida for delivery on Dec. 24. The item was a pair of Yellow Gold 8-8.5mm Freshwater Cultured Pearl Stud Earrings.
The last Local Express Delivery order that was delivered in time for Christmas, was placed by a Prime member and went to Seattle. It was a Kindle that was ordered at 1:43 p.m. on Christmas Eve and delivered at 4:57 p.m. that evening.

Amazon.com’s Hot Holiday Bestsellers (Nov. 15 through Dec. 19, based on units ordered):

Electronics: Kindle Wireless Reading Device; Apple iPod touch 8 GB; and Garmin nuvi 260W 4.3-inch GPS
Toys: Scrabble Slam Cards; The Settlers of Catan; and Scene It? Twilight Deluxe Edition
Video Games and Hardware: Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board; New Super Mario Bros; and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Sports & Outdoors: Razor A Kick Scooter; Victorinox Swiss Army Champion Plus Pocket Knife; and P90X Extreme Home Fitness Workout Program
DVD: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince;” “Star Trek;” and “Up”
Books: “Going Rogue” by Sarah Palin; “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown; and “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett
Music: “I Dreamed A Dream” by Susan Boyle; “My Christmas” by Andrea Bocelli; and “Crazy Love” by Michael Bublé
Jewelry: Sterling Silver Marcasite & Garnet Glass Heart Pendant; 10k White Gold Diamond 3-Stone Heart Pendant; and 18k White Gold Round Diamond 4-Prong Stud Earrings
Watches: Casio Men’s Waveceptor Atomic Dual-Time Watch; Invicta Men’s II Collection Chronograph Stainless Steel Blue Dial Watch; and Timex Kids’ Camouflage Stretch Band Watch
Beauty: Sephora Brand Color Play Palette II; Santa’s Lump of Coal Christmas Soap; and Sephora Brand Ultimate Blockbuster
Home & Garden: Keurig My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter; Vinturi Essential Wine Aerator; and Oster Electric Wine-Bottle Opener
Clothing & Accessories: The Mountain Three Wolf Moon Short Sleeve Tee; Levi’s Men’s 550 Relaxed Fit Jean; and Levi’s Men’s 501 Jean
Shoes and Handbags (Amazon.com and Endless.com): Steve Madden Women’s Bonanza Tall Shafted Flat Boot; Hunter Original Tall Welly Boot; and EMU Australia Women’s Hip Boot
Health & Personal Care: Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer; Philips Sonicare Essence 5300 Power Toothbrush; and Farouk CHI 1 Inch Ceramic Flat Hairstyling Iron
Gourmet Food: Bon Appetit Gift Basket; Grand Ghirardelli Chocolate Gift Basket; and 50’s Decade Box Gift Basket
Home Improvement: Black & Decker MSW100 Ready Wrench; Bosch Laser Distance Measuring Device; and Joby Gorillatorch Adjustable and Flexible Tripod Flashlight
Automotive Parts & Accessories: Wagan 12V Heated Seat Cushion; 3M Headlight Lens Restoration System; and Autel MaxiScan MS300 CAN OBD-II Scan Tool
Baby: Baby Einstein Takealong Tunes; Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether; and Baby Einstein Bendy Ball
Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007; Adobe Photoshop Elements 8; and Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
Grocery: Coffee People Donut Shop K-Cups for Keurig Brewers; Coffee People K-Cup Santa’s Buzz; and Vita Coco 100% Pure Coconut Water
Wireless: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Unlocked Phone; Plantronics 510 Bluetooth Headset; and BlackBerry Bold 9700 Phone (AT&T)

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel; Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial.

Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Examples of the services offered by Amazon Web Services are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Amazon SimpleDB, Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS), Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS), Amazon Mechanical Turk and Amazon CloudFront.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, and www.amazon.cn.

As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management’s expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com’s financial results is included in Amazon.com’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

SOURCE: Amazon.com, Inc.

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