Amazon has a list of best selling products for most departments on their website, including ebook readers.
The list includes the top 100 best selling ebook readers, although a few are miscategorized and aren’t ereaders at all.
The current list of best selling ebook readers provides an interesting insight into the current state of Kindles in particular.
The list is updated hourly, so that limits how much you can read into it, but the top of the list doesn’t change a lot unless there’s a sale.
The #1 and #2 spots go to the $119 Kindle Paperwhite with Special Offers, both the black and white versions. Amazon has long touted the Kindle Paperwhite as the best selling Kindle so that’s not surprising.
The #3 spot is currently held by the cheap $79 Kindle, and the Kindle Oasis 2 shows up at #5. #4, #6, and #7 are again the Kindle Paperwhite, the models without ads and the refurbished Paperwhite.
So 5 of the top 7 spots belong to the Kindle Paperwhite. No wonder Amazon isn’t in a rush to replace it with a newer model. They don’t have to do anything and it still sells more than any other Kindle, and every other ebook reader ever released for that matter.
Other versions of the Kindle Paperwhite also show up at #11 and #16, and even the older Paperwhite 1 and 2 show up in the top 22.
It sure would be nice if Amazon would release an updated Kindle this year, but you can see why they haven’t. It’s been over 3 years since Amazon released the current Kindle Paperwhite and all they did was change the screen from 212 ppi to 300 ppi so that’s the only thing that has changed in the past 5 years. And yet the Kindle Paperwhite continues to sell well…
Is every other post going to be you whining about Kindle ereaders?
Is that you Jeff?
Regardless of sales success of the Paperwhite I expect Amazon introduces something this year. While they don’t Need to do anything for Paperwhite sales I anticipate innovative pressure from a design team to put something out.
Probably something will come out no one expects and everyone needs, like Alexa on the Kindle Paperwhite 4 …
That’s funny and probably a joke, but the other day I was washing dishes and wanted nothing more than to be able to tell my Oasis to go to the next page.
I wouldn’t buy a new reader just for that though. But in a few years when I’m shopping for a new one, that might get factored in.
Why fix what ain’t broke? The PW it’s the best selling ereader in the world. People constantly poo poo the Oasis’s metal back and odd shape, complain that flush screens wash out text, and deride physical buttons as unnecessary. Still others complain that large screens are inconvenient, which lets be real, they are. And fat a bezel with buttons takes up as much space as a larger screen.
What exactly should Amazon replace the PaperWhite with? According to complaints about other models, the PW is the ideal ereader. Sales certainly support that.
So you’re saying we should stop innovation just because people are satisfied and complacent? The PW could use several improvements such as first and foremost getting rid of those scary atrocious monster of Bezels. Bezels that size should be illegal in 2018, no excuses.
Also make the paperwhite a little lighter and thinner while including comfort like to adjust lighting. my preference would be to add an IR screen instead for Capacitive for superior quality text.
Page turn buttons would also be great.
Is all of this necessary? No, it would only make a good device even better and boost good sales even greater. That’s all it would do.
Warning this post is a winge (sorry Moranga). After holding off buying an e-reader i finally decided on the kindle oasis not so much for its waterproofness, but because you can interchange between audio books and the kindle books on the device. (i drive alot and so want to be able to listen and then read). This feature, I thought made buying an ereader worth my while. Yet this new version (with audio books capability) can only be bought in US and they won’t ship to Australia. So I am very disappointed. It was the advertising that sought me out, and finally wet my appetite for this particular product (i am not easily swayed by advertising). Yet now i can’t get it. I now sooo want an ereader but i don’t want to spend my precious dollars on a product that does not meet my needs, when there is a product out there that does!. I am a bit Amazon kinkle books purchaser (with a reading appetite that is growing quickly). Amazon be warned, if this is the way you do business and think of your Australian consumers then i will move away from Kindle and Amazon and bring my large network with me.
It’s available on the Amazon AU site right now so I don’t understand what all this is about.