Amazon just reported strong financial results – net income up 71% in the fourth quarter versus a year ago. And sales up 42% to $9.52 billion, also 4Q year-over-year. But the real story re Amazon remains with yesterday’s unveiling by Apple of the iPad. There are a lot of people who think Apple didn’t go far enough with the iPad – my fellow blogger Gabriella is one, see her post below. But when Apple figures out all that should be on this thing, the iPad will be a force to be reckoned with. Apple has been on a roll and no reason to believe it won’t continue to be.
Which brings us back to Amazon. CEO Jeff Bezos said in the company’s press release that when Amazon has both the electronic and physical version of a book, “we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books.” (Kindle is Amazon’s electronic book reader that also offers newspapers and magazines.) The Kindle has been a big success for Amazon. But it will have to figure out a way to get some of the buzz back that it lost yesterday to the iPad – and that’s real product buzz, not PR spin buzz. Stay tuned for an epic battle.
