Aug 5, 2011 13:36 GMT  ·  By

There seems to be more happening on Amazon's side of camp than expanding e-reader availability, as it looks like some price cuts have been made, some that might signal the arrival of new products on the horizon.

If there is one device type that is not going away any time soon it is the e-reader, though this is hardly a surprise knowing how well such things have been selling.

In fact, Amazon's Kindle, the so-called representative of this segment, was just a short time ago reported to have been adopted by OfficeMax.

It so happens, however, that Amazon has reportedly been up to other things as well, though still involving this particular product line.

Apparently, the WiFi and 3G kindles have been reduced in price, to $99.99 and $129.99, respectively.

This might signal the company's decision to speed up the emptying of third-generation Kindle inventories.

In other words, the fourth-generation Kindle could be just around the corner, though not too much is known about their hardware and software makeup.

Granted, rumors do have something to speculate upon, like the fact that one of the two expected models will feature a touchscreen.

Speaking of the screens, the sizes could be of 7 inches and 10 inches, respectively, and the main target consumer segment will be that of students.

Since Kindles are supposed to be cheap, it only makes sense that their more basic e-reading functionality would appeal to such people, leaving the task of attracting deeper pockets to tablets.

Finally, on might remember that, about a month before the Kindle 3 itself was launched, Amazon held a similar sale, where the second-generation Kindle got cheaper.

Of course, now that users know that a better version might be on the way, the $10 cut might not fulfill its intended purpose as well as Amazon may have hoped.