Amazon ships 240,000 Kindle readers

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 4 Aug 2008 at 11:55

Amazon has sold almost a quarter of a million Kindle eBook readers, bringing sales to nearly $100 million, according to reports.

According to TechCrunch, the company has sold 240,000 of the devices, representing between $86 and $96 million in revenue excluding the sale of files and content.

The $360 reader includes an EVDO connection, allowing new books and content to be bought and downloaded wirelessly. These books cost around $10 to purchase, and the reader can hold around 200 in its internal memory.

As well as purchasing content, users can upload text files via USB, and Word files can be converted by emailing them to a certain address. This service is free if you have them sent back to you for transfer over USB, but can also be transmitted directly to the unit for $0.10.

However, the Kindle has received criticism for failing to support the popular PDF format, which was recently ratified as an ISO standard.

At the launch of the device in November 2007, Amazon announced that stocks had sold out in less than six hours, although no figures on exactly how many unit this represented were released.

The unit's 6in E Ink screen can show only four shades of gray, but is perfectly readable in bright sunlight.

Read our review of the Amazon Kindle here.