Amazon's New Kindle to Sport Rechargeable Protective Case: Report

Amazon.com is set to release a higher-end Kindle version with a rechargeable protective case for a better battery life, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The online retailer is also developing a solar-charged Kindle case, the Journal reported, citing another source.

Amazon declined to comment.

The company's chief executive Jeff Bezos tweeted on Monday that the latest version of the reading device is ready and details could be expected next week.

Bezos also revealed that the upcoming eighth-generation Kindle will be "top of the line" device. Unfortunately, there are no other details related to the new Kindle device. In his tweet, Bezos said, "Heads up readers - all-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week."

To recall, Amazon launched the Kindle Voyage (Review) ebook reader last year in India. The Wi-Fi only Kindle Voyage was priced at Rs. 16,499, while the Wi-Fi + 3G version was available at Rs. 20,499. The Kindle Voyage Wi-Fi and Kindle Voyage 3G joined the 7th generation Kindle (Review), the Kindle Paperwhite, the Kindle Paperwhite 3G (Review), and the previous generation Kindle in the line-up of Amazon ebook readers available in the country.

Last month, Amazon rolled out an update for its older-generation Kindle devices. The update was mandatory for devices else older versions of the Amazon ereader would stop connecting to the Internet unless their software was updated by basically right now.

According to Amazon, the update was needed for the first generation of the Kindle Paperwhite, which was released back in 2012, and all of the other Kindle models that came out before it. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, warned customers to install the update before March 22.

Written with inputs from Reuters