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Despite the fact that Amazon are being unashamedly coy regarding sales figures, there can be no doubt that they are pleased with the performance of their Kindle ebook reader series to date. The original Kindle went on sale in November 2007 and uptake was so high that it sold out in under 6 hours. It was out of stock right up to April 2008.

The Kindle 2, widely considered to be an improvement to an already successful product, was released in February 2009 and was another big hit with the Amazon customer base. In May of 2009 Amazon announced that its new, larger Kindle DX would be released and commenced taking pre-orders for shipping on June 10 2009.

All things considered, by summer of 2009 the Kindle was the must have gadget and was frequently referred to as the “iPod of reading”. Meanwhile, in parallel with the development and marketing of the hardware, Amazon continued to expand its library of Kindle titles. By early June of 2009 there were in excess of 300,000 Kindle titles on offer and the collection was growing by, on average, 500 books daily.

Fantastic business for Amazon and a huge encouragement for repeat business. Sure, you can get books for your kindle elsewhere – but these might need translation, and why bother when the Kindle store has so many volumes that you can download using 3G wireless connectivity in under sixty seconds?

It’s also good news for all those third party manufacturers of kindle accessories – a rapidly expanding market. Amazon originally shipped a cover with the first Kindle, but discontinued this practice when the Kindle 2 was launched (no great loss perhaps as many users didn’t like the cover and bought alternatives anyway). Customers who have just forked out out $359 for their Kindle 2 or $489 for their DX probably don’t think twice about spending another $20 - $40 on a protective sleeve for their expensive new toy. Like any portable kit, it’s sure to come in for a few bumps and scrapes in use – it makes sense to protect it doesn’t it?

Apart from the practical aspects, it appears that some Kindle owners are quite happy to pay over $100 for a nice leather cover – which will not only provide some level of protection but will also make their high tech Kindle look more like a “proper” book. As the Kindle is a pretty high ticket item most owners, will have some disposable income so it probably isn’t a huge surprise that they’re ready to pay for a few add-ons to personalise it.

Kindle owners can also select from a wide variety of other accessories – clip on lights, metal reading stands and power chargers are currently popular. As the popularity of the Kindle continues to expand, and as further new models are brought to market, it seems likely that more and more independent vendors will benefit from Amazon’s innovation.