CitiGroup analyst Mark Mahaney has more or less declared that the Amazon Kindle, much-maligned by Web critics, is going to be Amazon's iPod, says Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka. Mahaney thinks
the Web retailer will sell 378,000 units this year, double his initial estimate. Instead of being a $750 million business that accounts for 3% of the company's sales, Mahaney says Kindle will be a
$1.1 billion business that accounts for 4%.
Where's the evidence? Well, Mahaney claims its impossible to get the numbers from Amazon, so he points to strong customer reviews of the device
and the fact that it remains on top of the Web giant's best-seller list. He also points to TechCrunch's recent report that sales of the device hit 240,000. Kafka doesn't doubt those numbers, but he
does doubt whether the Kindle will move 150,000 units in the fourth quarter. That will only happen if the Amazon reader becomes a must-have holiday item--unlikely for a device that requires customers
to pay $10 every time they want to read a new book. The Kindle, meanwhile, retails for $350.
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