In the Saturday issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, Steve Weinstein, an analyst with Pacific Crest in Portland, Ore., talked about the future evolution of the Amazon Kindle electronic book device.

According to the analyst, by 2012, the book could reach sale numbers of no less than $2.5 billion. For 2008, the device has recorded 40,000 sold units so far.

The thin, white device, launched at the end of 2007, allows users to download books, newspapers and blogs, in Amazon's new effort to draw people’s interest in portable reading gadgets. The wireless content downloading does not exceed one minute for a full-length book and does not require a computer; around 200 books can be stored on the device’s internal memory. The ten-ounce electronic book reader has incorporated wireless functionalities, which are based on the cell phone broadband technology EVDO.

At the beginning of June, Amazon.com’s Kindle was given an additional 5,000 book set which added up to the already existing 120,000 downloadable titles; this was made possible through a deal with publisher Simon & Schuster Inc.

Amazon also offers the possibility of subscribing to newspapers, magazines or blogs for a monthly fee. For example, subscriptions to newspapers such as the New York Times or the Washington Post can vary from 5.99 dollars to 14.99 dollars, while a subscription to a magazine can range between 1.25 dollars and 3.49 dollars per month. As for blogs, the subscription fee goes for about 99 cents per month.

The analyst went on to say that even though the device’s price dropped from $399 to $359, the book is still considered to be too expensive and may serve as a transitional step towards an eventual mass acceptance of electronic books.