As I have written about before, I am not a huge fan of the first version of the Amazon Kindle device. Don’t get me wrong: the concept is fantastic, and I applaud Amazon for basically creating an entire market from scratch. However, I think the Kindle device itself feels “prototype-y” and… well.. kludgy. In fact, I mused that it was SO kludgy that Amazon was looking for someone to do the hardware device right, so it could focus on media and content distribution.

I’m not sure if their plans changed or not, but however they arrived at the decision to create the Kindle 2, they seem to have done a very, very good job. Here are some screenshots and a brief discussion. Supposedly, it will be released on Monday, February 9th, and available later in the month. The price point will be the same as the original Kindle: $349.

I sure hope this boosts Amazon’s stock and ushers in mainstream adoption of the (currently niche) ebook market. The iPhone offering, while nice, just isn’t large enough to be used effectively, in my opinion – and also only offers public-domain content.

And for what it’s worth, I still think the Readius is very cool, and that Amazon should partner with them.