Kindle helps Amazon sales jump 39%

The latest edition of the Kindle has helped boost Amazon’s sales by 39%, the web retailer said in its third-quarter results.

Amazon.com posted net sales of $7.56 billion last quarter, well above the $5.45 billion it posted last year. Profit jumped 16% to $231 million.

North American results were a bit stronger than international, with sales up 45% compared to 32%.

Amazon attributed some of the success to its new Kindle. The third generation of the eBook reader is the best-selling Kindle yet, and outsold every other product on Amazon for the 12-weeks after its arrival this summer.

While Amazon didn’t offer any specific numbers for the Kindle, analysts at Caris told Bloomberg they expected the eBook reader to make $2.8 billion in profit for the retailer, and $5.3 billion by 2012.

Despite the good news this quarter, the company forecast lower-than-expected operating income in the fourth quarter, saying it could decline by up to 24% as Amazon invested in advertising and new warehouses.