Amazon's Kindle 2 officially released

Amazon has officially announced the Kindle 2 today, showing off the new unit in a demo video and boasting about all the new features it supports. Rumors last week about the device's profile and shape have rung true, with the Kindle 2 being a meager one third of an inch thick and only 10.2 ounces in weight. The device supports 3G connectivity to get books delivered over the air and its internal storage is enough to satisfy even the largest of digital book libraries. It also supposedly will last several days on a single charge.


Due for sale for the first time on February 24th, the Kindle 2 will boast not only a plethora of new features but a steep price tag, coming in at $359. That's a hefty tag for an eBook reader, though that is the same price the original Kindle debuted at – and ultimately led to fairly poor sales all around. You might think that you could now pick up an older Kindle for less, which is true if you are buying one used, but the online retailer has apparently stopped selling the original one. Amazon does have a nifty device with the Kindle, but the price barrier seems to be a huge setback for it. Would you pay $359 to read eBooks?