• Los Angeles Times, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 8:45 AM

Shan Li reports that a recent cut in the price of Amazon's Kindle is probably a major factor in the fact that, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says, "The Kindle format has now overtaken the hardcover format." The more popular paperback books were not included in Amazon's announcement.

Kindle sales tripled after the company lowered the price to $189 from $259 last month, Li writes. That move closely followed a similar one by Barnes & Noble, which cut its rival e-book reader, Nook, to $199 and intro'd a $150 version.

Without more detailed financial information, it is difficult for analysts to gauge how Amazon is doing in the e-book area. Said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial, "In our opinion, they are losing money on a lot of the bestsellers sold as e-books." The company is much more likely to be making a profit on sales of its Kindle device, he said, even with the price cut.

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