There has been a great deal of speculation regarding the release of the next upgrade of Amazon's hugely successful Kindle e-book reader. The original Kindle reader was released in November of 2007 and the updated Kindle 2 followed in February of 2009. If a similar gap was to be maintained, then the Kindle 2 which is now a little over a year old, would be due for replacement at some point in the near future.

Since the launch of the Kindle 2, many new readers from various different manufacturers have hit the market and end user choice has increased dramatically. Over and above dedicated e-book readers such as the Nook from Barnes and Noble and Sony's Daily Edition, the new iPad from Apple is also viewed by many as a potential threat to the Kindle as it has the capability to read e-books. In summary, bearing in mind both its age and the increased level of competition from other new readers, many of which have additional functionality and features, the Kindle 2 looks ready for an upgrade fairly soon.

Which prompts the question - what features might Amazon decide to incorporate in an upgraded versionc Amazon will doubtless have a few surprises up their sleeve - but their latest business acquisition could give a clue to at least one new feature that we can expect to see in future versions of the Kindle.

Amazon have bought a startup company by the name of Touchco, who specialize in touch sensitive screens. The technology is a little different to other touch screen technology currently on the market. It uses interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology - which, unlike other touch screen technology, can be completely transparent. It can be used with e-ink displays and colour displays. It is also, according to the New York Times, considerably cheaper than the capacitive type of touch screen used in the iPod and the iPad

Touchco were a spin off from New York University Media Research Lab project. They are thought to have a maximum of half a dozen employees, who will now be absorbed into Amazon's Kindle laboratory. The display technology, although well advanced was still very much a research project with no active commercial application in use at the time of the Amazon takeover.

The Touchco technology could be used to produce Kindles with both color screens and touch sensitive controls. The possibility of a more versatile Kindle, with a variety of different uses - not unlike Apple's iPad - very definitely exists. Of course, this may not happen with the next release of the Kindle - it could be some way off in the future. Nevertheless, Amazon's purchase seems to be a clear declaration of intent regarding the future direction of their Kindle reader technology.