Rumor: Amazon's Kindle 2 Due Feb 9?

Those of you eager to follow in the footsteps of Oprah and pick up one of Amazon’s Kindle book readers are in luck, rumor has it the company will be launching the Kindle 2 on February 9, ending the Kindle drought that has been going on since the chat show queen lavished praise on the gadget in November.

Amazon announced that the company will be holding a press conference at the Morgan Library in New York City; and while its keeping quiet about whether or not it will intro the revamped Kindle, the rumor mill has been working itself into a frenzy since the emails went out.

Ever since its Oprah debut, support for the device has soared. Previously, there were doubts that the market had room for something like the Kindle. Many people were reading books on their iPhone (with the help of an application called Stanza) and several analysts threw around the idea that this could kill the Kindle. Offering a piece of software that could do the same thing as the Kindle on a device did text, email, internet and phone; stuff that nearly everyone either wants or needs anyway.

However, now that it’s famous, the Kindle has been completely sold out. The drought has not gone unnoticed and neither does the notice on the Kindle site that says orders placed for the device will ship in 4-6 weeks. Could there be a new Kindle on the horizon? And more importantly, will it have a touch screen? The waiting game sucks. Stay tuned for more.