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Currently, Amazon is enjoying tremendous success with their latest third generation Kindle reader. An upgrade - which includes a new display with 50% better contrast, lighter and smaller casing, quicker page turns and double the memory capacity - accompanied by a reduction in price and the introduction of an entry level Wi-Fi only model, has seen demand for the Kindle reader soar.

Demand is outstripping supply for the new Kindles and potential customers are currently facing a three to four week wait before replacement stock starts shipping. Kindle books are also outselling traditional hardback editions on a regular basis. It looks to be no more than a matter of time before e-books start to outsell paperbacks.

Amazon has also launched a dedicated UK Kindle store so that UK customers don’t require to have their readers shipped across the Atlantic and can pay for their Kindle purchases in their local currency. It seems probable that further “local” Kindle stores will be opened for other Amazon international websites such as Germany, France etc. in the future.

At the moment, everything in Amazon’s garden is looking pretty rosy. Suggestions that the launch of the Apple iPad would spell the death of the Kindle seem to be, for the moment at least, unfounded. The Amazon policy of releasing free “apps” which allow Kindle books to be read on a wide variety of different devices seems to be paying dividends. So, considering what a huge success they have had with their first manufactured product, it’s probably no surprise that Amazon is reported to be considering developing prototypes for consumer gadgets other than the Kindle in their Lab 126 research facility.

Amazon has made no comment on what they may, or may not, be developing, but it has been suggested that they may be looking at mobile phones and music and/or movie players. However, industry watchers suggest that, if Amazon wanted to enter the market with another gadget, then they would need to ensure that they add value rather than simply releasing another piece of personal electronic tech onto the market.

Much of the success of the Kindle reader must be attributed to Amazon’s strong link with books and reading in general. The massive choice of Kindle books available – more than 630,000 and increasing daily – and the fact that these can be read on so many other devices has been a big selling point. Any new gadget that Amazon decided to launch would probably need some similar type of support in order to achieve anything approaching the level of success enjoyed by the Kindle.