Amazon Kindle #1 Selling Non-Shipping Amazon Item
Posted on 27 March 2008, at 4:56 am, by Wayne Schulz
It’s now several days since Amazon issued a public apology for chronic “shortages” of the Kindle E-Book reader. Since then I’ve noticed the Amazon Kindle shot up to the #1 Bestselling Electronic item at Amazon. Can Amazon really be this bad at managing supplies of the Kindle? Part of me say’s that this is a controlled shortage meant to hype the product, that Amazon won’t make money on the hardware (it’s the content they want to sell) and the device is only a “proof of concept” for later licensing of the design and delivery to other manufacturers. These other manufacturers could incorporate a Kindle-like device into airline seat backs, bus seat backs, waiting rooms, etc. I’ve had my order in since March 14 so I’ll report back when the Kindle logjam clears.
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March 27th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I’m still not sure if this is all “contrived” or not.
Amazon certainly doesn’t make the product and they aren’t the only company to have delivery issues is recent months. HP had the multi-month delay delivering the HP 210, and then delivered only in small amounts at first. HP also calcelled one of their new smartphones in the U.S. supposedly due to supply/quality problems. iMate couldn’t deliver on it’s Ultimate series and has basically pulled out of the U.S. , again supposedly due to supplier problems. Apple has had shortages of 16GB iPhones recently and there are reports that iPhones are out of stock completely in NYC.
Some of these may all be marketing setups or real shortages or may be due to the fact it seems no one does their own manufacturing anymore. I’m not sure what’s up here, but it sure seems there’s a lot of these supply issues lately. One thing’s for sure though – the Kindle shortage isn’t hurting the market for it!
Personally, I’m waiting for one with a color display and backlighting.
March 27th, 2008 at 11:44 am
If Apple can announce a new Nano and have enough stock to fulfill orders in three weeks, Amazon can certainly do better than they have done with the Kindle. I am sure that *Amazon* themselves sells more Nanos in a day than they do Kindles in a week.
This is planned, and sticking the Kindle in first place in bestselling electronics? That’s just sad.
Show me the sales figures, Amazon, if you want to make me a believer.
March 27th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
@doogald – it is weird that no sales figures have trickled out..