Amazon: No New Kindle This Year

If you hoped Amazon would release its much anticipated next-generation Kindle 2.0 e-book reader this year, you are out of luck.

Amazon spokesperson Craig Bergman said Amazon will not be introducing a new version of the Kindle in '08, adding the debut of the e-book was expected "sometime next year at the earliest."

Rumors emerged earlier this week about Kindle 2.0 after financial analyst Tim Bueneman, with McAdams Wright Ragen, discussed what he believed was the strong likelihood Amazon's next generation e-book reader would target the textbook market.

"Don't believe everything you read -- there's a lot of rumor and
speculation out there about Kindle," Bergman said yesterday. He denied Amazon was courting college students with Kindle 2.0.

Other Kindle watchers had hope Kindle 2.0 would be released this year and would sport a thinner frame, include an improved screen, be more stylish, and that Kindle 1.0 annoyances would be fixed.

"One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of Kindle this year," said Bergman. He refused to further speculate on the new Kindle or if it will be aimed at a particular audience.

The reports earlier this week suggested that the new Kindle will be oriented at the $5.5 billion textbook market, where five leading textbook publishers already distribute about 5,000 titles, (about one-third of top-selling textbooks), in digital format.

It's a bit disappointing that Amazon chose not to disclose its future plans for the next generation of Kindle but then again, one could easily notice the resemblance between Amazon's and Apple's marketing strategies, especially when it comes to secrecy about new devices. Meanwhile, we just have to wait until next year and see what Kindle 2.0 is going to bring.