Some analysts are getting a little weary of Amazon’s continual tease on Kindle sales figures.
The internet retailer’s shares rose on Monday, based on its press release that the eReader had become the most popular gift in its history.
But Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts complained in a note that they continued to be frustrated with the limited data from Amazon, which has never released any dollar or unit numbers on Kindle sales.
“These press releases seem aimed at generating press buzz, not providing the most relevant information to the Street,” they said.
The Kindle may well have benefited from Sony and Barnes & Noble being slow in getting their eReaders to market for Christmas and having problems guaranteeing delivery.
In contrast, Amazon says it took a Kindle order from a customer as late as 1.43pm on Christmas Eve and was able to deliver it at 4.57pm the same day.
Amazon also said that customers purchased more Kindle electronic books than physical books on Christmas Day for the first time ever.
That seems blindingly logical – customer receives Kindle as Christmas present, customer immediately downloads books to try it out. Just as logical in fact as App Store downloads increasing more than 900 per cent on Christmas Day after people opened their iPod touch presents.
Amazon’s press release lists best sellers in various categories, including electronics where the Kindle, iPod touch 8Gb and Garmin nuvi 260W GPS device are the top three items.
So probably fewer people got lost on Christmas Day as well, but that’s just a guess until we get some hard figures.
