For the second year in a row, Amazon's Kindle has become the biggest selling product of the year on Amazon.co.uk.
The e-reading device topped the annual bestseller list in a big year for the Brits with Adele, The Inbetweeners and The King's Speech all featuring in the top ten along with three entries from the boy wizard Harry Potter.
"Millions of Amazon.co.uk customers are enjoying Kindle, and sales of Kindle books in the three months following the launch of the all-new Kindle were almost five times higher than the same period last year," said Christopher North, managing director of Amazon.co.uk Ltd.
"2011 also marks the end of an era with the final two Harry Potter films and the complete collection of movies all featuring in the top ten bestsellers of the year. Harry Potter has been a constant fixture at the top of the charts for over a decade and it could be a long time before there is a phenomenon quite like it again."
The Amazon.co.uk 2011 top ten bestsellers (1 January to 18 December 2011)
1. Kindle Electronics
2. Kindle Keyboard Electronics
3. 21 – Adele Music
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 DVD
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Video games
6. The Inbetweeners Movie DVD
7. Wired-Up HDMI Cable Electronics
8. The King's Speech DVD
9. Harry Potter - The Complete 8-Film Collection DVD
10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 DVD
While I love Harry Potter, and I love Amazon, too, I have to confess my relief that no-one bought me a Kindle for Christmas.
I still prefer vinyl to CDs, and I like my music to fill the room with sound, rather than just my head via a tiny earpiece.
By the same token, I like to turn the pages of a book and feel its texture while I’m reading it, not to mention how they look on the bookshelf.
New technology is awesome, but the experience it gives you with music and literature takes the beauty out of it for me.
If there are any other dinosaurs out there who feel as I do, I’d love to hear from you at mashcroft@bus-ex.com. Email is one technology I do, wholeheartedly, approve of!
Happy New year!
