New York – A little more than a year after the Kindle made its debut, Amazon announced a new, updated version of its popular e-book reader Monday with a big endorsement from Stephen King.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos demonstrated the features of the new device, called Kindle 2, at a crowded press event at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. He stressed the need for the Kindle to "disappear" so the reader can focus on the text. Bezos himself then disappeared, welcoming novelist Stephen King to the stage to give his take and announce a Kindle-only novella he wrote specifically for Amazon.

As predicted in leaked photos, the new Kindle 2 has a much slimmer profile than the original (.36” thick compared to the first version's 0.7" thick), is slightly lighter (10.2 ounces versus the original 10.3 ounces), has curved edges, and includes a sleeker, unified keyboard with a 5-way joystick instead of the original device's scroll wheel. And the navigation buttons have been pushed down for tighter control (and to avoid the accidental page-turning that many users complained about). Kindle 2 has a 25 percent longer battery life, Bezos claimed, and contains 2GB of memory that can hold more than 1,500 books.

There is also a new iPod-like metal back plate and a set of stereo speakers along the bottom, which enable a new feature: The Kindle 2 can convert any text to audio, so it can "read" books to you in a somewhat robotic, artificial-sounding voice. (King jokingly called this a "GPS voice").

(See how the Kindle 2 and the Sony Reader stack up, feature-wise.)

Another major update is a new Whispersync service which makes it easier for original Kindle owners to transfer e-books they've already purchased to the new device. Whispersync will eventually work on a number of mobile devices as well, enabling Kindle owners to read their books on other devices.

The Kindle's screen has been improved, too: The E-Ink technology, already easier on the eyes than a computer screen or standard LCD screen, has been updated to 16 shades of gray, up from the current model's 4 levels of gray. It also turns pages 20 percent faster on average than the previous model, Bezos said.

Unfortunately the design is all that has changed, as Amazon is standing by the $359 price tag. It’s available for pre-sale now, and original Kindle owners jump to the front of the queue if they order by midnight Tuesday. Kindle 2 will start shipping February 24, 2009, Bezos indicated.

There is also still no Wi-Fi access, but, as with the first version, with its 3G cellular radio (supplied by Sprint) Kindle owners can purchase any of Amazon’s 230,000 titles anywhere where there is a signal from Sprint's data network.

And the Kindle's limitations on file formats remain unchanged. It still cannot easily display standard PDF (Acrobat) files, nor can it utilize e-book formats other than Amazon's.

King read a passage at the press event from the novella entitled "Ur," which he wrote this January, that includes direct references and discussion about the Kindle and the Amazon bookstore. But he says the Kindle in his story does more than Kindle 2, like accessing information from other worlds.

While he obviously loves the Kindle, King says print books will always be around. Instead, he sees e-books and print books as complementary.

“They're like peanut butter and chocolate, when you put them together you’ve got a whole new taste treat,” he said.



It has been quite a year for the Kindle, with ever growing popularity due in no small part to an Oprah endorsement in November that included special guest Bezos. Oprah called the device her "new favorite thing in the world."

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney also called it the "ipod of the book world" last fall, predicting sales for the year of around 240,000.

And just this month, however, he upped the number again to about half a million, using estimates based on Sprint service, and that it will become a $1.2 billion business by 2010.

"We've been selling e-books for years and guess what, it didn’t work… until 14 months ago," said Bezos on Monday.

He says more than 10 percent of e-book units sold now are Kindle books.

Amazon itself has yet nor is it likely to release any specific numbers, but e-book’s are certainly growing in popularity and hype, and the device was sold out on Amazon throughout the holiday season.

Many other companies are planning on releasing e-book readers this year including Plastic Logic with its paper thin device that was unveiled at last year’s DEMO, and Foxit Software whose reader will be much cheaper than its competitors at around $250.

And Sony beat Kindle to an update a few months ago, with a touch screen reader that has features, like note taking, which seem to be targeting the college crowd. And while Sony promises to add wireless access in the next update, Kindle's got it beat on one major front with its free Whispersync access to purchase books on-the-go.

Amazon also said this week that it is planning on releasing Kindle titles on mobile devices besides the Kindle very soon, and it is likely to inolve the new Whispersync feature.

"We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones," said Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Amazon. "We are working on that now."

Others are turning to mobile devices like the iPhone as an e-reader, through various applications like Classics, Stanza, and ScrollMotion's Iceberg apps. Google gave this medium a big boost last week when it optimized about 1.5 million titles in its public domain Book Search library for iPhones and T-Mobile's Android powered G1.

Photos: Amazon