Amazon: Digital books outselling hard copies

Online retailer Amazon.com says that over the past three months it has sold more eBooks for its Kindle electronic reader than hardcover books in its retail store.

Amazon said in a statement that over the three month period it has sold 143 e-books on its Kindle for every 100 hardcover books sold on its website.

The e-tailer said arecent price cut to its Kindle electronic reader has spurred sales.

Amazon last month cut the price of the Kindle to US$189 from US$259 to ward off competition from Apple's iPad tablet, Barnes & Noble's Nook device and Borders' Kobo eReader.

In a statement, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos called the lower price "a tipping point," and the company said it sold three times as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 as in the first half of 2009.

While Amazon regularly touts the success of the Kindle, it has declined in the past to provide sales figures for the device or e-books, citing company policy. The company did not immediately return a request for details on sales figures.

Earlier this month, Amazon also cut the price on its most expensive version of the Kindle electronic reader to US$379 from US$489.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Steve Orlofsky).