Rumor: Amazon’s Kindle Coming to China

The Kindle Fire, via Amazon

Perhaps those government talks we reported on back in October went well, because it looks like Amazon’s Kindle product line may finally be coming to China.

The rumor, which is being passed around in tech circles on Chinese microblogs, suggests that Amazon’s Kindle product line should be hitting China soonish. Amazon China spokesmen told reporters that while the company certainly wants to officially introduce the Kindle to China (there are plenty of sketchy Kindles available on the gray market), there is no official timetable as yet.

The rumor has been supported in part by job postings that show Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is looking to hire Kindle engineers in China. However, that in and of itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything as there’s no guarantee whatever they work on isn’t meant to be sold abroad.

Still, if Amazon can get the government to go along with it, it’s hard to imagine a better time for a China Kindle launch than soon. E-reader hardware competitor Hanvon has been losing ground and as we reported earlier today, Dangdang’s entry into the digital book market is looking weak. There’s a gap here for Amazon to exploit, but it won’t last forever.

[QQTech via TechWeb]