Amazon launched the Kindle e-reader in 2007 and built one of the world’s largest online marketplaces.
The first Kindle was introduced on November 19, 2007. Amazon marketed it as a wireless reading device that could download books through a mobile network. Its electronic-ink display was designed to resemble printed paper and use less power than conventional illuminated screens.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994, and the company began as an online bookstore. It expanded into music, video, electronics, household products, logistics, and third-party marketplace services. Amazon Web Services, launched in 2006, became another major business by providing cloud-computing infrastructure to organizations around the world.
Amazon’s name is sometimes mistakenly treated as a reference only to the rainforest. Bezos chose it after the Amazon River, intending to suggest scale. The company’s market capitalization reflects the value investors place on its retail, cloud, advertising, subscription, and logistics businesses, not simply the value of goods sold through its website.