A lot of tech analysts, including TechCrunch and Citi analyst Mark Mahaney, have been talking up their estimates of Kindle sales, and positioning Amazon’s device as the iPod of ebooks.

Unfortunately for Amazon, the numbers being thrown around by TechCrunch & Citi appear to be bogus.

According to a report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Amazon officials say that “high-end estimates on Kindle sales reported by TechCrunch and a Citigroup analyst are not reasonable.”

Amazon says that the Kindle is selling well, but that the “extremely high estimates” were unfounded and that the analysts “did not run them by the company”.

When the Kindle was introduced, we said “The Kindle Is This Year’s Zunetanic,” and noted a fundamental problem with the device: it doesn’t embrace the world of Internet media:

Internet media, in all its random, open, messy glory, is where people’s attention is moving to. It’s where it’s at, in both technology and media.

The Kindle doesn’t make it easy for you to get Internet content; it isn’t a new platform that you can easily publish content for; and it doesn’t play well with the Web.

In other words – the Kindle is not the next iPod. It will remain a niche device unless Amazon addresses the concerns we raised when it was introduced.

via SAI