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Amazon and Waterstones report downloads eclipsing printed book sales | Books | The Guardian: "Like the death of Mark Twain, the demise of the printed book is greatly exaggerated, although the latest news from Amazon – which announced that it is selling more ebooks in America than print books for the first time – might suggest the nails are being readied for the coffin.

The company said that in the US it has sold 105 ebooks for every 100 print books since 1 April this year, less than four years after it introduced its Kindle electronic book reader. Amazon also released figures for the UK – where the Kindle only launched in August 2010 – which showed ebooks are now more popular than their hardback relatives, as Waterstone's also revealed that ebooks were outselling hardbacks by four to one.

However commentators warned the figures represent 'volume not value'.

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon, said the company was excited by the response to its Kindle range. 'Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books,' he said. 'We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly – we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years.'"