We already know that the Kindle, Amazon’s electronic book, is sold out for Christmas, but people are still looking for them. Searches on Google for the term “Kindle” picked up in October to nearly triple the level during the summer. It’s settled down a bit, but search volume is still at about double the previous rate.

Not finding any available Kindles, searches for “Sony Reader” are picking up as well, although the clear preference is still the elusive Kindle by nearly two to one. If you really want one, just do yourself a favor and wait for the next version to come out early next year.

Despite the surge in demand and sold-out inventory, I’d be surprised if Amazon has sold more than one million Kindles to date. Maybe 500,000. That would not be a stretch, given that 240,000 had been manufactured through August. It’s a complete guess, though (the 500,000).

How many Kindles do you think Amazon has sold since it launched a year ago?