Kindle: the iPod of Books?

Citigroup said on Monday that the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader appears to be selling much better than expected, Reuters reports, and could double a previous estimate for units sold this year.

“Turns out the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world,” Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a statement to clients. The company said that since “few cool new gadgets” are expected on the market in the coming months, the Kindle could be one of the top electronics gifts of the upcoming holiday season, along with Apple’s newest iPhone, according to the article.

The numbers are certainly lining up to support that contention. Mahaney is estimating that Amazon will sell up to 380,000 Kindles in 2008, up from a previous forecast of 190,000, “noting that adoption rate would be similar to the first year of sales for Apple’s media-playing iPod.”

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