Amazon.com, Inc. To Reveal New Kindle Next Week

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According to a tweet from Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, fans of the Amazon Kindle e-reader will soon be able to get their hands on an updated version.

Bezos took to Twitter to tease the arrival of the new device. “Heads up readers – all-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week,” wrote CEO Jeff Bezos in a tweet on Monday.

Bezos tweet leads to excitement among Kindle fans

It will be the 8th version of the e-reader that Amazon has released. The e-commerce giant released a more sophisticated $199 Kindle Voyage in 2014, along with an updated version of the basic model.

Despite the fact that the e-reader market has been in decline since 2011, Amazon and Bezos remain committed to the Kindle. Sales have suffered in the face of the increasing popularity of tablets, but it still featured among the top-selling electronics on the Amazon website on Monday. The mid-tier Kindle Paperwhite came in 6th, while the entry-level model was 26th and the Kindle Voyage was 30th.

Amazon has seen some serious success with the Kindle, but its other hardware efforts have not been so successful. For example the company’s Fire smartphone was declared a flop soon after launch in 2014. Amazon was forced to write down $170 million for unsold devices.

Amazon consumer electronics still popular

In contrast the Fire TV stick, Echo smart speaker and Fire tablets have proved successful and remain top sellers on the site. More recently the company has been betting on the internet of things, the idea that many connected devices will form part of our homes. Amazon has been successful in the arena, with a number of home automation devices such as the Echo proving popular with consumers.

The fact that Bezos made the announcement on Twitter is also interesting. He joined the site in 2008 but hadn’t made any tweets until last November. Since then he has mainly been informing followers about developments at space-flight company Blue Origin.

Blue Origin and Bezos are locked in a race with SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk to see who can be the first to make a truly reusable rocket. It is thought that reusable technology will slash the cost of space travel and could lead to major advances in space exploration.

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