Amazon's Kindle A Textbook Case?

Amazon is dipping its toes into the college textbook market, and is set to release a new version of its electronic book reader targeting the higher education crowd, according to reports. Separately, Amazon confirmed it acquired the social networking book site Shelfari.

Amazon is working on a new version of the Kindle, and sees a big opportunity to market its e-book reader to college students," reported The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Amazon did not respond to calls seeking comment. The newspaper said its information is based on an e-mail from McAdams Wright Ragen equity research analyst Tim Bueneman, who previously met with Amazon management.

"There are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works," Bueneman told The Seattle PI. "But Amazon has no plans, however, for an MP3 music audio version. We guess the new version will have improved interface operating controls. This has been an issue with some buyers. "

Amazon also told Bueneman and other analysts that speculation about the number of Kindle units sold were "extremely high and were not run by the company," The Seattle PI said.

Earlier this month TechCrunch reported that "240,000 Kindles have been shipped since November, according to a source close to Amazon with direct knowledge of the numbers."

Amazon does not break out separate retail numbers for Kindle units. Kindle may have become more attractive since May when it s price tag was lowered to $359 from $399.

In May, Citigroup equity analyst Mark Mahaney estimated that Amazon could sell $750 million in Kindles by 2010, said TechCrunch. Additionally, Scott Devitt, a Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., equity analyst estimated that Kindle is a $1 billion business for Amazon.

Separately, Amazon announced that it had acquired Seattle-based Shelfari, a two-year old social media site about books. Amazon made an investment in the company last year. The site lets users build virtual bookshelves and interact with other readers, acting as a kind of online book club. Shelfari was founded by three technology veterans from RealNetworks: Josh Hug; Kevin Beukelman; and Mark Williamson.

Last year, Shelfari released a new application that allows Facebook users to view their books on a virtual bookshelf, import books already added on Shelfari.com, rate and review their books and share ratings and reviews automatically through Facebook's personal newsfeeds.