Amazon.com Says Kindle Sales Accelerated, E-Books Pass Print

 Amazon.com Inc., the largest Internet retailer, said growth in sales of its Kindle digital reader accelerated every month in the second quarter and that it’s selling more electronic books than hardcover versions.

The rate of Kindle sales also has tripled since the company cut the price to $189 from $259, Amazon.com Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

“We’ve reached a tipping point with the new price of Kindle,” Bezos said. “Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books--astonishing when you consider that we’ve been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months.”

The 27 percent price cut, announced last month, was aimed at helping Amazon stave off a threat from Apple Inc.’s tablet- style iPad, which includes e-book reading features. Amazon.com hasn’t disclosed Kindle sales since releasing the device in 2007, saying only that it has sold millions.

Amazon.com sold more than triple the number of Kindle books in the first half of the year as it did in the same period last year, Seattle-based Amazon.com said. More than 81 percent of its 630,000 electronic books are $9.99 or less.