The smartphone is the leading mobile commerce device and the new class of tablet computers will also change the game, said Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos as the online retailer delivered second-quarter profits of US$207m.
Amazon reported operating cash flow was US$2.56bn, compared with US$1.88bn the previous year.
Net sales increased 41pc to US$6.57bn in the second quarter, compared with US$4.65bn in second quarter 2009. Excluding the US$48m unfavourable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales would have grown 42pc compared with second quarter 2009.
Operating income increased 71pc to US$270m in the second quarter, compared with US$159m in second quarter 2009.
Net income increased 45pc to US$207m in the second quarter, or US$0.45 per diluted share, compared with net income of US$142m, or US$0.32 per diluted share, in second quarter 2009.
“We’re seeing rapid growth in Kindle, Amazon Web Services, third-party sales and retail. We’re also encouraged by what we see in mobile. In the last 12 months, customers around the world have ordered more than US$1bn of products from Amazon using a mobile device,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
“The leading mobile commerce device today is the smartphone, but we’re excited by the potential of the new category of wireless tablet computers. Over time, tablet computers could become a meaningful additional driver for our business.”
Amazon.com is now selling more Kindle books than hardcover books. Over the past three months, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the company has sold 143 Kindle books. Over the past month, for every 100 hardcover books Amazon.com has sold, the company has sold 180 Kindle books.
Amazon sold more than three times as many Kindle books in the first half of 2010 as in the first half of 2009.
International segment sales, representing the company’s UK, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites, were US$2.98bn, up 35pc from second quarter 2009. Worldwide Media sales grew 18pc to US$2.87bn.
The Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de websites each launched grocery stores offering customers free delivery on thousands of new items from brands such as Kraft, Nestlé, Mars, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble and Unilever.
Businesses and developers in more than 190 countries are taking advantage of Amazon Web Services (AWS). In the first half of 2010, AWS continued significant geographic expansion, launching the first Asia Pacific Region in Singapore, as well as extending additional services, including Amazon Virtual Private Cloud and Amazon Relational Database Service into the EU.
