Amazon Kindle sales almost triple to ???

As expected, Amazon didn’t reveal how many Kindle Fires it sold last quarter in today’s earnings report. But it did say that Kindle unit sales grew 177% year-over-year during the 9 weeks ending Dec. 31, 2011. That’s better than Apple’s 111% y/y iPad unit growth, but it’s not really comparing like objects, so whatever.

(And highlighting the difference between the companies, Apple just reported blowout profits and Amazon now warns it may lose money this quarter.)

Perhaps the most interesting thing, though, is that Amazon’s Q4 sales actually missed expectations. A few weeks ago, retailers were complaining about weak holiday sales, and it seemed Amazon was to blame. Apparently, not as much as I thought.