More Than 8 Million Kindles to sell in 2010

A new report suggests that Amazon’s Kindle e-reader will blow past estimates and sell more than 8 million units of the devices this year.

According to Bloomberg Business Week’s sources, Amazon sold 2.4 million Kindles in 2009. If those numbers are accurate, that means the device’s sales have more than tripled in a year. It doesn’t look like the iPad was a Kindle-killer after all.

Amazon is notorious for being tight-lipped about sales of the popular device. The retail giant told us that the Kindle 3 is the fastest-selling Kinde ever, but didn’t provide any numbers to back that assertion up. We’re not certain why Amazon’s so secretive about sales of the device, but clearly it must think it’s a strategic advantage to keep that information under wraps.

Amazon’s newest Kindle, which launched earlier this year, is smaller and faster. But most of all, it’s cheaper with its very affordable $139 price point. That alone is probably a major factor in the rapid rise of Kindle sales. Still, Apple sold 4.19 iPads in Q3 alone, half of Kindle’s 2010 sales. The stage has been set for an interesting battle over the future of e-books in 2011.