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Photo By: Brady Amazon Kindle |
It's one thing to have Oprah praise something; but sales can go stratospheric when she gushes like this.
She gushed. And these sales since have been other-worldly.
So much so that Amazon [AMZN
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] now finds itself in the rarified air of Nintendo's [NTDOY
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] Wii. The Kindle has supplanted Apple's [AAPL
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] iPod and iPhone, the Ferbie (do they still make those?) and just about everything else as this year's must-have gadget under the tree. Go ahead, try to order a Kindle from Amazon and you'll find disappointment like so many thousands before you.
Investor Intelligence:
How disappointed? Amazon now lists the estimated shipping date as 11 to 13 weeks away. That's not just well after the holidays; that's well into next year!
Ironically, I've spent so much time talking about the growing rivalry between Amazon and eBay [EBAY
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] over these last few months and it turns out eBay might be your best — and only — bet when it comes to finding an Amazon Kindle new, and available in time for the holidays. And you'll pay the price: There are Kindles available for anywhere from $580 where the auction is ongoing to the buy-it-now price of $650. There's one listed for $999.
Kindle is becoming a phenomenon all unto itself. You'd think after the sell-out last year that Amazon would've gotten wise to its supply constraints and done something about the problem so it wouldn't leave customers out in the cold again. But then again, who could've predicted that Oprah would have been so smitten with the thing?
Bad news for customers. Good news for investors? Maybe. Amazon's gotta figure out a way to translate all this interest into real sales. Might be a nice problem to have, but it's a serious problem nonetheless. Meantime, lots of Kindle hopefuls will be left out in the cold. Just like last year.
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