Kindle E-Book Sales Surpass Real Books

The e-reader has some real holiday magic up its sleeve. Remember when you were a kid and you could just see the books waiting under the tree thinly disguised in slim, rectangular packages? Unless you were an avid reader, those packages regularly got pushed aside for the bigger, more exciting gifts that hopefully held something electronic under their crinkly, bowed grasps.

Now that the e-reader is taking over literature as we know it, the book is no longer the dullest, most obvious gift of the pack, but a sleek piece of technological innovation–a gift that kids, young and old, can actually get excited about. And sales are proving that consumers are loving it.

Amazon released some press over the weekend that for the first time in its history Kindle book sales surpassed physical book sales. Of course, that feat was accomplished on Christmas Day, so there are many little asterisks–like the fact many new Kindle owners quickly realized that an e-reader isn’t a particularly fun toy without any content. The motivation to go online after Christmas dinner and restock the bookshelf with physical books probably isn’t quite on par.

Despite the caveats, it is certainly a noteworthy feat. How long until e-book sales regularly surpass hard copies? [via MSNBC]