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Amazon: Many iPad owners also buying Kindles

As Amazon touts the Kindle 3 becoming the best-selling product of all time on Amazon worldwide, CEO Jeff Bezos says many people who are buying the new Kindle also own an LCD tablet.

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Mobile accessories and portable audio, including headphones, earbuds and speakers Credentials
  • Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
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David Carnoy
2 min read
Amazon says the Kindle 3 has become the best-selling product in Amazon's history. Amazon

Another week, another press release from an e-reader manufacturer talking up big sales. This time it's Amazon announcing that the third-generation Kindle has become the best-selling product in the company's history in just five months. It's officially gone past "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (Book 7)," the previous reigning champ.

After Bloomberg reported last week that sales for the Kindle 3 were going even better than expected--sources claimed Amazon was due to sell more than 8 million Kindles in 2010--this latest announcement doesn't exactly come as a surprise. But what's interesting about the press release is that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is talking up the Kindle as a companion to more-expense LCD devices like the iPad and assorted Android tablets, more of which are due to arrive in 2011.

"We're seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet," Bezos said without citing a specific survey. "Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies, and Web browsing and their Kindles for reading sessions."

Referencing the Kindle's main marketing points, Bezos adds that those same customers say they prefer Kindle for reading because "it weighs less, eliminates battery anxiety with its month-long battery life, and has the advanced paperlike Pearl e-ink display that reduces eye strain, doesn't interfere with sleep patterns at bedtime, and works outside in direct sunlight, an important consideration especially for vacation reading. Kindle's $139 price point is a key factor--it's low enough that people don't have to choose."

With all that in mind, we ask, how many CNET readers have both an iPad and a Kindle (or an iPad and another e-ink e-reader such as the Nook or Sony Reader)? And if you so, do you prefer the Kindle for reading?