Popularity of the Kindle

 Upon its debut, the Amazon Kindle costed $399. While some critics said the price tag was too high, the demand for the Kindle soon depleted Amazon's stock of the device. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos offered an apology to customers. He claimed that the company sold out of its stock in less than six hours. Some web journalists and bloggers suggested that Bezos' goal wasn't to offer a sincere apology — it was to drive up more interest for the device.

When the Kindle became available again, the price dropped to $359. Amazon didn't release sales numbers to the public, leaving many to question exactly how popular the device was. Netcasts such as CNET's "Buzz Out Loud" would occasionally report on Kindles listeners had spotted "in the wild." It seemed like the Kindle belonged to the realm of folklore — you didn't own one, but a friend of a friend did.

Amazon got a huge publicity boost in October 2008 when Oprah Winfrey named the Kindle as her favorite gadget. Oprah devoted most of an episode of her show to promoting the Kindle. She invited Jeff Bezos to the show to talk about the device, explaining its features to her audience. Oprah also announced an electronic coupon for the device. Nowadays the entry-level Kindle can be had for less than $100, $110 for the version without ads.

Kindle readers usually rank at the top in journalists' lists of best readers. Amazon's advantages help fuel this, especially against other companies with similarly equipped e-readers. But the company hasn't been free of criticism, and the integrated bookstore is often a topic of complaint. Electronic copies of books sometimes cost about as much as physical copies, something that seems unfair to some people. Unlike a physical book, there are very few production and distribution costs associated with an electronic file.

Amazon also got into hot water when it remotely deleted copies of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" stored on customers' Kindles. It turns out the publisher that made the books available didn't have the proper rights. Amazon credited customers the money they spent on the books and apologized for the situation.

The incident brought to light a potential problem with electronic copies of books — a gray area for consumers when it comes to owning digital information. Turns out these companies doesn't own these e-books, they license them. If something happened to the company you bought these books from, the content would no longer be available to you. You also can't read an e-book you bought via Amazon Kindle on a rival e-reader like Nook [source: Warner].

In 2012, Amazon was accused of terminating a woman's account and deleting the books from her device, stating that her account was linked to another that had abused its policies. The company didn't provide much information and gave no recourse for resolution. While this is one isolated incident, it has prompted renewed concern about digital rights management (DRM) [sources: Aguilar, Mosbergen].

But despite criticisms, the Kindle certainly has appeal. Amazon reported in May 2011 that e-book sales were surpassing physical book sales on its U.S. site and reported the same of the U.K. site in August 2012 [sources: Rapaport, Strange]. As of 2017, Kindles enjoyed 72 percent of the market in the U.S. But sales of e-books overall dipped in the 2010s, only to be revived during the COVID-19 pandemic when bookstores were closed. Libraries were also closed, and e-book borrowing skyrocketed.

E-books are still behind print in terms of revenue, but it's clear that publishing companies and self-publishers aren't going to quit anytime soon. And the pandemic also gave e-publishing a shot in the arm. When all is said and done, e-books may not obliterate print books, but they're here to stay. And so is Kindle.