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According to Bloomberg, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will host an event in New York this week. The speculation is that it will release another version of its Kindle book reader or simply say that it is making it available again after being out of stock since November. There is good reason to get the product back in the field. Bloomberg writes, "Amazon.com will make about $1.2 billion in sales from the Kindle by next year, according to Mark Mahaney, an analyst at Citigroup Inc."
Demand may not be that spectacular. Kindle sales were pushed up last year in part because Oprah said she loves the product. That "endorsement" will only last so long before people forget it.The Kindle costs well over $300. In the current downturn there is strong evidence that sales of consumer electronics are down even for inexpensive products.
The largest risk to rising Kindle sales is that there may be a very limited number of people who want to download books and read them on an video display screen. People have been reading books printed on paper for centuries. That may not be a habit that can be broken in a year.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
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