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The worst kept secret in the personal electronics market was confirmed at a press conference in New York recently when Amazon announced the launch of the Kindle Fire, their new tablet computer. The new Amazon tablet computer will sell for just $ 199 and is scheduled to start shipping on the fifteenth of November. Amazon are taking pre-orders starting from today and, based on previous experience with Kindle launches, it seems likely that the new tablet will be sold out before it even starts shipping.

The Fire has a 7″ color, LCD touch screen and may very well do for downloadable video what the Kindle did for ebooks. Battery life is said to be seven and a half hours when watching videos and 8 hours when reading books.

A whole new series of Kindle readers was also announced at the same time. A new entry level Kindle, priced at just $ 79, will be available. There will also be a range of Kindle Touch readers, priced between $ 99 and $ 189 depending on which version you select. And for those who don’t want a touch screen, the Kindle 3 will still be available – but it will now be renamed the “Kindle Keyboard”.

The dynamics in the ebook reader market may be about to change quite a bit. Amazon’s Kindle reader has been out in front for a long time now. Just recently, Barnes and Noble updated their Nook reader and it now has an e-ink technology display which incorporates touch screen controls. The Nook has been in a distant second place to the Kindle for some time now – but the new upgrade could help Barnes and Noble to close the gap and may even things up somewhat in the Kindle vs Nook contest.

Whether or not a touch screen is a big deal is open to debate – but it’s what people are used to on their personal electronic devices these days. With touch screen controls in place, the QWERTY type keypad is no longer necessary – which lets the reader be made to be smaller and lighter. That will certainly appeal to many prospective buyers.

The other big news in the market is the launch of iRiver’s Story HD reader. The Story HD comes with a QWERTY keypad rather than touch screen controls, which is just a little surprising perhaps. On the other hand, it does have the first XGA e-ink technology display on the market.

It has a resolution of 1024 x 768, compared to the 800 x 600 resolution of the Kindle and the Nook. There are 63% more pixels, which might lead to a better reading experience. It may also make additional formatting options available to ebook publishers. Whether or not that will be considered to be a major selling point by customers remains to be seen.

What will definitely be a major selling point is the fact that the Story HD is the product of a partnership between iRiver and Google. It’s the first ebook reader to be integrated with Google’s eBookstore. Users will be able to choose their ebooks from Google and then download them straight to their reader by Wi-Fi.

Considering the success of both the Nook and the Kindle, it does appear to be the case that people prefer to buy their readers from companies which have a strong link with books. By integrating the Story HD with Google’s eBookstore, that link has been provided. The partnership could boost reader sales and raise awareness of Google’s eBookstore into the bargain.

The release of the Kindle 4, probably before the end of the year, will shake things up again no doubt. In the meantime, both Google and Barnes and Noble will no doubt make hay whilst the sun shines. It appears as if the ebook reader market isn’t in a position to settle down at this time.