(Amazon Kindle News) The holidays were good to both Amazon.com and its Kindle. According to Amazon.com, the Kindle has become the most gifted item in Amazon’s history. In a surprise, Amazon.com also announced that sales of Kindle books on Christmas day outpaced sales of actual books for the first time ever.

“We are grateful to our customers for making Kindle the most gifted item ever in our history,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “On behalf of Amazon.com employees around the world, we wish everyone happy holidays and happy reading!”

The news is good for Amazon.com which is facing new competition for its Kindle from Barnes and Noble and an upcoming threat from Apple with an expected “Apple Tablet” or “iTablet”. Amazon has established an early enough lead in the marketplace, however, to be able to thwart competitors in the near future while continuing to define the marketplace.