Amazon has never been one to reveal their sales numbers for the Kindle. How many have been sold so far? No one knows, but this week the company has sent out some cherry-picked numbers that cast a positive light on E-Books themselves, suggesting that digital books are on a path to overtake print ones. The online retailer says that print is actually growing, that sales of hardcover books have been up during their second quarter, but that the sales of their digital books have outgrown even those figures. During the past three months, for every 100 hard cover books sold Amazon has sold 143 Kindle books and they are projecting that as a pattern, that as the months continue the gap between hardcover and Kindle books will only widen. 

Part of the reason for that surge, the company suggests, is the healthy price slash on the Kindle itself. Originally it was $259 US, but over time that has come down to $189 and that became a tipping point where those who were waiting rushed in to buy one. Again, no actually sales numbers, but Amazon says that they are now selling three times as many digital books this year than last and that five authors - Charlaine Harris, Steig Larson, Stephanie Meyer, and James Patterson have now sold more than 500,000 of their books each through the Kindle.

Apple has released a free update for their iBooks app. In addition to a few fixes, Apple has given the app the ability to display books with audio and video and users can now explore any illustration of photograph in fullscreen mode by simply double-tapping on it.

Speaking of books embedded with audio and video, Sharp has introduced their own E-Book format, designed to allow for a new generation of book designs that can incorporate audio, video, and connected features. The XMDF file format has been used for nearly a decade in Japan to publish novels and manga, now a revamped version of the software, which Sharp is dubbing "Next-generation XMDF" will allow for full-colour book designs with motion graphics and embedded or streamed multimedia content. The digital books can be sold through stores as downlodable files or added to web pages as web-based apps. Initially Sharp will launch the book format using two new E-Book readers, a 5.5" and 10.8" models, they plan to launch in Japan before exploring possibilities in overseas markets. Their plan is to leverage it as a standard that can be used on all popular devices, from gaming consoles to tablets.  

Akihabara News has video and images of Sharp's new book format here.