Amazon's Kindle 2 a smash hit

Has Amazon finally hit on the right formula with its second version of the Kindle e-book reader? According to TechCrunch, the company has already sold 300,000 of the devices (in less than two months) and expects to pump out 500,000 more before the end of the year. (Some analysts have even higher hopes for the device, with sales projections topping 1 million units.) Either way you cut it, that's a huge win for Amazon.

To put those numbers in perspective, the company sold roughly 400,000 units of the original Kindle reader in its entire existence, which spanned nearly a year and a half. To say that Kindle 2 is selling at twice the rate of the original Kindle is a dramatic understatement. Based on those figures, the Kindle 2 is currently selling nearly ten times faster than Kindle 1.

The numbers are particularly shocking given the economic crisis, but it also leads one to wonder how much money Amazon left on the table during the first Kindle's availability window. Kindle 1 was plagued by shortages and constant out-of-stock conditions, and many potential buyers waited for months in vain in the hopes of getting one. How many gave up and defected to another company's e-reader, I wonder?

Finally, Amazon seems to have resolved the Kindle availability issue, and the device remains "in stock" and ready to ship on the website.

While a million devices is a wonderful place to be, it's hardly ubiquitous: The iPhone 3G sold a million units in its first three days on the market. If Amazon wants to take the Kindle from a novelty for book nerds into the full-on mainstream (as is its avowed goal) it's going to take a much harder push -- and that probably means a hefty price cut one of these days.

So: What's the magic number it would take to get you on the Kindle bandwagon?