When is the Next Kindle Coming Out?
Judging by Amazon's previous record of Kindle releases, it is being speculated that the successor of the Kindle Fire, the Kindle Fire 2, will be released sometime in the last quarter of 2012. However, there is also a segment of the tech-pundits who are speculating that the release date of the Kindle Fire 2, will not come earlier than the holiday season to take advantage of expected high sales volume around that time. You see, holidays are those times when one actually finds oneself spending time on those pursuits that interest him/her the most. In case of bibliophiles, who happen to be the target audience for e-book reader brands, Christmas and the holiday season is when they are most likely to be looking for either purchasing the latest e-book reader or looking for upgrading their existing ones. However, an early release cannot be totally ruled out, considering a lot of new tablet PCs are expected to release this year which, as claimed by their manufacturers, are well endowed to give most other e-book readers a tough competition.
The General Trend of Kindle Releases
You don't need to look too closely to notice that the time gap between the release of Kindle 2, Kindle 3 and the 4 generation Kindles is roughly one year. That's what have spelled doom for Amazon (that is, if the new Kindle is not already on the launch pad this year!), what with all you greedy bibliophile geeks lined up to literally make a grab at its throat! By releasing three consecutive generations of Kindle within a year of each other (overdoing itself by coming up with three of them last year), Amazon has spoiled its customers by instilling anticipations of a brand new version getting launched this year!
The first Amazon Kindle was released in 2007. After a two-year hiatus, Amazon launched two Kindle versions - Kindle DX and Kindle 2 - in the year 2009. These were soon succeeded by the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi and Kindle 3 Wi-Fi 3G which were released in July, 2010. 2011 witnessed the release of the 4th generation Kindle devices that included Kindle 4 (actual keyboard replaced with virtual keyboard), Kindle Touch (with complete touchscreen functionality) and Kindle Fire (Android-powered touchscreen tablet), all released in the month of September. Considering the competition Kindle faces from other e-book reader brands, Amazon didn't really have a choice but to come up with Kindle 2, 3 and 4 and launch them so close to each other. After all, if you look at the two-year gap between the release of first Kindle and Kindle 2, seven other e-book readers manufactured by competing brands such as Sony, iRex Technologies, Jinke, etc., had hit the stores between 2007 and 2009!
An e-book reader is a blessing for those bibliophiles who are constantly on the move. I mean, imagine having to carry a bulky baggage of heavy books just in case you get that itch to read something substantial (assuming that magazines and catalogs are omitted from the scope of substantial reading material is implicitly obvious) while waiting for your flight at the airport or en route a long, peaceful trip on the weekend! Sony LIBRI was the first commercially available e-book reader that was launched in the year 2004, followed by iLiad (iRex Technologies), Hanlin V2 (Jinke) and Reader PRS-500 (Sony), all of which hit the stores in the 2006 (wow... that kind of makes 2006 the year of e-nlightenment!!).
PS: A parting word to those who feel this was a long-winded way of saying, "I don't know the exact Kindle 4 release date", - if any of you happen to know the exact release date, kindly do the rest of us a favor by posting the same in the comment box below. That way, all of us can benefit from the information.
