Colour Kindle, anyone? Yes, we thought that would mean the arrival of the Kindle Fire over here, but the inevitable Taiwanese contract-manufacturer moles say, no, it's a colour e-ink device with a multi-touch sensor overlaying the display.

And it'll be out during the second half of the year, they add, by way of Digitimes.

The site mentions a comment from E Ink chairman Scott Liu to the effect that it'll have colour e-ink panels out shortly. E Ink gave us a demo of a prototype last month. It was impressive enough, but the company promised an even better release later this year.

Put the claims together, and it looks likely we could indeed see a colour Kindle by Christmas.

Of course, it'll hard for e-ink to match the colour reproduction of LCD or OLED panels, and since most print is monochrome, you might think there's little need for a colour e-book reader alongside black and white versions and colour tablets.

Maybe, but E Ink for one reckons there's a small but significant number of buyers who want a colour screen they can take outside to view in bright light. We'll find out later this year if Amazon agrees. ®