Amazon Kindle Claims 92% of Ebook Reader Christmas Sales

More than one million ebook readers were opened on Christmas Day in the UK and a staggering 92 percent of these were Kindles, underlining Amazon's dominance in the ebook sector.

Research carried out by YouGov found that 1.33 million ebook readers were bought as gifts for Christmas 2011, meaning that one in every 40 adults either received one as a present, or bought one for themselves.

Tablets also fared well, with 640,000 being gifted amongst adults in the UK and 72 percent of these were Apple iPads; of these, 60 percent were given to women.

"This is finally the year when the late-medieval technology of the printing press was challenged by a 21<sup>st Century, digital alternative," said Marek Vaygelt, head of technology and telecoms at YouGov.

Vaygelt continued: "Amazon has done a remarkable job of selling the benefits of e-readers and the upside for the publishing industry is that it appears e-reader owners, at least in the early days, buy more e-books than the printed books they purchased before acquiring an e-reader."

Mirroring the printed book market, 61 percent of Kindles bought over Christmas were gifted to women and, interestingly, the over 55's were twice as likely to receive a Kindle than those aged 18-24, suggesting that, despite being an electronic gadget, the Kindle is popular with a wide age range.

Finally, Londoners were more likely to receive an iPad than those in the rest of the UK, but were least likely to have received a Kindle.

These sales figures come as no surprise, as the Kindle sold more than one million units a week in December and was ranked as Amazon's most popular product in its British, French, German, Spanish and Italian stores.