Consumer Products award winner 2011

Jeff Bezos is the founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, an online commerce site known foremost for selling books. Amazon.com did not invent the idea of reading books on electronic devices nor was it the first to offer an ebook reader, but its innovative Kindle spurred the market almost single handedly when it was introduced on November 19, 2007.

Bezos is credited with leading the charge. Gregg Zehr was president of Lab126, a small subsidiary of Amazon.com that developed the Kindle and he led the hardware team that created the device.

An ebook reader is an electronic device that employs a high resolution display technology called electronic paper and electronic ink that displays books just like ink on paper in the physical world. The idea has been around since the 1970s and most people agree that Sony was the first to come out with such a device, the Sony Reader, in 2006.

Amazon.com’s Kindle ebook reader was a major step ahead because of the high quality of its display and its tight connection to the Amazon.com Kindle store, which provides almost instant wireless access to a huge selection of books. Owners of the Kindle do not need a computer or cables to purchase books and can download a new book wirelessly in less than a minute anywhere they have a WiFi connection or, on the more expensive model, cell phone service.

Amazon.com now sells multiple versions of the Kindle. The standard version weighs 8.5 ounces and is about the size of a paperback book, albeit much thinner at just over a third of an inch – about as thick as a magazine − and sells for US$139. It can store about 3,500 books in its memory, its battery can last up to a month, and because its display reflects light and does not use backlighting, it can be read in bright sunlight.

Amazon.com’s bookstore offers more than 900,000 ebooks for sale plus audiobooks, newspapers, magazines and nearly 13,000 blogs. In addition, readers can download for free more than 1.8 million out-of-copyright, pre-1923 ebooks. The ebooks for sale generally are less expensive than printed works and most sell for about US$9.99.

Amazon.com also offers a Kindle application for the iPhone, iPad and personal computer. These apps are synched, so you can start reading a book on a Kindle, switch to an iPad and pick up precisely where you left off.

The company does not release sales figures other than to say “millions” have been sold. Janney Capital Markets estimates there are more than six million users of the Kindle e-reader. Caris & Co. estimates that the Kindle will generate revenues of more than US$5.42 billion for Amazon in 2011 and “at least” US$7.96 billion in revenue by 2012. International Data Corporation estimates that the Kindle accounts for 41.5% of total eReaders sold in 2010. Global shipments of e-readers are expected to more than triple by 2014 to 30 million units from 9.7 million in 2010, according to IHS iSuppli research.

The Kindle and its competitors have changed consumer behavior. In July 2010, Amazon announced that sales of electronic books for its Kindle had outnumbered the sales of hardcover books for the first time ever. In May 2011, Amazon said it was selling more e-books than books printed on paper.