According to Barnes & Noble customers bought or downloaded 1 million e-books via the Nook on Christmas Day. It claimed that sales of digital books through its website now exceed those of traditional books bought online.

Barnes & Noble also reported that Nook devices were its best-selling product, but like Amazon which made the same claim for its latest Kindle, the company does not divulge actual sales figures. Analysts estimate that Barnes & Noble has sold 2 million Nooks since its launch 2009 while the Kindle, launched in 2007, has sold around 6 million.

To put the e-book sales claim in context, in the most recent quarter for which sales figures are available (to October 30, 2010) retail location sales at its 717 stores across the U.S. were more than five times greater than on its website.

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