From http://www.tbiresearch.com/amazon-selling-90-of-all-e-books-2010-1

Several publishers and distributors tell us that Amazon is currently selling upwards of 90% of all e-books sold.

The number seems US only, and probably only for ebooks from major publishing houses. But it's still significant. The rest of the article is mostly speculation.

It would not surprise me though analyst are a dime a dozen and tend to talk out of their ass

I think I doubt that number.

Yeah I have to agree that I am doubtful of the numbers. Maybe for the biggest publishing houses Amazon sells the most, but 90% seems awfully high to me.

Part of this doubt is that while Kindles are common there are so many other devices out there, Kindle does not have 90% of the ebook device market. Unless people who own kindles read way more than the rest of the ebook device users.


Amy

Even I don't believe that!

I don't know. It's certainly possible for a publisher to get 90% of its ebook revenue from Amazon, but if that were true then I would assume that the publisher wasn't trying all that hard to sell ebooks other than through Amazon.

Given how tightly Amazon is guarding any sales information regarding the Kindle and eBook sales, I'd be surprised if anyone (but Amazon) has a clear picture of what they truly have. I saw another analyst state matter-of-factly that Amazon sold over 2 million Kindles...but again, Amazon has not officially or unofficially released any sales data. And given they are the manufacturer and sole point of sales, its not like analysts can ask retailers, so I'm pretty skeptical of any claims at all, until Jeff Bezos comes out and says so in a financial statement :p

Given how tightly Amazon is guarding any sales information regarding the Kindle and eBook sales, I'd be surprised if anyone (but Amazon) has a clear picture of what they truly have. I saw another analyst state matter-of-factly that Amazon sold over 2 million Kindles...but again, Amazon has not officially or unofficially released any sales data. And given they are the manufacturer and sole point of sales, its not like analysts can ask retailers, so I'm pretty skeptical of any claims at all, until Jeff Bezos comes out and says so in a financial statement :p

They are, of course, not the manufacturer. They are made by a Taiwanese company in China (was it Foxconn the Iphone/Ipod builders?). I am sure that it would be possible to get some data on Kindle production figures from there through various channels -- which doesn't mean the analyst actually did have it.

To me, those revenue figures seem extremely small.
So my guess would be, Amazon may have 90% market share of the revenue, that's actually transparent. But not the over all revenue.

Just a small calculation:
If I remember correctly, "Books on Board" states, average consumer spends $ 500 per year after having bought a reader from them.
2 million Kindles would equal $ 1 billion in eBook revenue. A gross mismatch to the $ 115 million mentioned in the article.

Let's try to get some idea about figures in this forum. I'll start a poll about spent.

Most people i know that actually pay for ebooks do go though amazon. Im not claiming anything, but I am sure they are at least in the running.

the only people i know off this board with ebook readers own kindles, but i do note that targets have sold out sony ebook readers time and again, and walmart sells sony ebook readers and the opus, too. that's the same walmart who are selling more toys than toysrus, so i tend to doubt the analysts. besides, to really analyze something, you have to have figures. i would doubt the numbers the publishers would give out - IF they gave out any - because they seem to want to squash ebooks.

sony ebook readers have been around a lot longer than kindle, and there are a lot of sony readers out there.

To me, those revenue figures seem extremely small.
So my guess would be, Amazon may have 90% market share of the revenue, that's actually transparent. But not the over all revenue.

Just a small calculation:
If I remember correctly, "Books on Board" states, average consumer spends $ 500 per year after having bought a reader from them.
2 million Kindles would equal $ 1 billion in eBook revenue. A gross mismatch to the $ 115 million mentioned in the article.

Let's try to get some idea about figures in this forum. I'll start a poll about spent.

There aren't 2 million Kindles out there. There might possibly be 1m, though.

I do think this is a load of manure.

I would be quite prepared to believe that Amazon has 90% of .Mobi sales.

And if as a publisher I only release ebooks as .mobi, then presto 90% of all my sales are through amazon.

I very much doubt that 90% of Ebook's read/owned come through amazon.

So Amazon sell 9 ebooks for every 1 that Fictionwise/Diesel/cyberread/B&N/Waterstones sell? I just don't see that. I don't think that the market has expanded that much!

90% seems much too high a number to be true.

90% does seem high, and since there are no real figures, not likely to be accurate. But, I do think that Amazon sells the majority of ebooks.... perhaps 60%

Don't forget the Kindle iPhone and PC apps are popular as well. I had the kindle iPhone app before I got my reader, and therefore bought some books from Amazon.....

Remember, that 90% is a statistic. Also remember the quote, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics".

I do think this is a load of manure.


...or cow patties. :D


Don

Since Amazon has buzzillions more ebooks for sale than anyone else and since you can buy them so darned easily if you own a Kindle, I would not be surprised if the 90% figure was correct. But my guess is that they're just guessing.