Larger-Screen Amazon Kindle 2.0 On the Way, Says Rumor

Despite being best-known as one of the biggest players on the e-commerce market, Amazon.com has also attempted a (rather successful) foray into the portable electronic device market, launching back in the first half of 2007 the Kindle, an e-book reader like no other before it. And that's because this rather unattractive product was able to connect wirelessly to the Internet and download content from Amazon, which meant that the company could actually make a lot more money from the sales of e-books than from actually selling Kindles in large numbers.

However, despite receiving quite a warm welcome, the Kindle wasn't exactly a smash hit, the number of customers who actually purchased this thing being relatively low. But things might significantly change in the future, since there are a few rumors going around the Internet that Amazon might be prepping a whole new Kindle, which could actually be years ahead of the current model.

According to analyst Peter Burrows from BusinessWeek, who's quoting unnamed sources, the new Kindle is likely to be "significantly thinner, with a better screen, more stylish" and to "include fixes to some of the user interface annoyances with the first version."

Furthermore, the same sources claim that the price tag will also be a lot more affordable than that of the current product, ranging between $249 and $299. Additionally, it seems that the design has been created by an in-house team led by a designer from frogdesign, which, incidentally, were the people who criticized the first Kindle the most.

If these rumors prove to be true, then this could usher in a whole new era for Amazon's portable e-book readers. A more attractive interface, a thinner form factor and improved looks could actually be exactly the ingredients required in order to seriously increase its popularity to iPod-comparable levels, and that's exactly what Amazon seems to hope.


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