Amazon recently announced that, in the 4 weeks following the launch of their third generation Kindle, more Kindle readers were sold than during the same time period following any earlier Kindle reader launch. The new, improved Kindle is not just in high demand - it is the fastest selling Kindle reader ever. True to form, Amazon didn’t reveal exactly how many Kindles were sold, but they did say that, since the launch of the latest Kindle, customers have ordered more Kindles on Amazon.com and the new Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk combined than any other product.

Amazon unveiled their new Kindle 3 at the end of July. The latest version packs the same 6" display into a new slimmed down design which is 21% smaller and 15% lighter. Page turns are 20% quicker and the memory size has been increased fro 2GB to 4GB - that's enough for 3,500 books. Battery life is now a month - with the Wi-Fi turned off - and the e-ink display has better contrast than previously.

An entry level Wi-Fi only Kindle has been introduced, aimed at customers who don't see the need for 3G. This sells for just $ 139, with the Wi-Fi plus 3G model on offer at $ 189. Those prices represent massive reductions on the previous $ 359 Kindle price. It's a clear sign that the e-book reader market is entering a new phase.

During the first half of 2010, Amazon sold 3 times as many Kindle books as they did during the same period of 2009. There are now more than 670,000 Kindle books available - not including the 1.8 million free titles available.

The Kindle remains the top selling product on Amazon's site. It is also the most gifted and most wished for product on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. With the high sales returns for the Kindle and the latest technical upgrades, it would be easy to overlook the significance of the opening of the UK Kindle store at Amazon.co.uk. The UK store has opened with 400,000 titles available and could increase international Kindle sales. If it proves to be successful - and why wouldn't it be - it seems probable that further "local" Kindle stores in France, Germany, Japan etc. - and any other country with its own independent Amazon website - might be opened.

Whilst Amazon still faces competition from the Apple iPad this doesn’t seem to concern them too much. At the moment, there is more than enough daylight between the prices of the Kindle and the iPad to make the Kindle the natural choice for anyone whose main interest is in reading books. As the e-book market matures, much more emphasis will be given to the sale of e-books as opposed to e-book readers. The fact that Kindle books are outselling iBooks by a ratio of sixty to one speaks volumes.