Kindle Fire ‘sold out’ ahead of Sept. 6 Amazon event: Kindle Fire 2 coming soon?

Amazon has more-or-less confirmed that a new Kindle Fire will be announced next week.

If there was any question about what’s in store for Amazon’s September 6 event, there isn’t anymore: The online retail giant has pulled the Kindle Fire from its website, saying that the device is “sold out.” Not only that, but Amazon went so far as to publish a press release about it. Can you say “hint, hint” any louder, Amazon?

“We’re grateful to the millions of customers who have made Kindle Fire the most successful product launch in the history of Amazon,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, in a statement. “This has been a big year for digital products on Amazon — all of the top 10 sellers on Amazon.com since Kindle Fire launched just less than a year ago are digital products. Kindle Fire is sold out, but we have an exciting roadmap ahead — we will continue to offer our customers the best hardware, the best prices, the best customer service, the best cross-platform interoperability, and the best content ecosystem.”

That’s right, Amazon has “an exciting roadmap ahead,” which includes “the best hardware, the best prices,” and “the best cross-platform interoperability.” All of that is code for: New Kindle Fire coming next week! And if it’s not, well, then Amazon sucks at writing press releases.

Amazon boasts that the 7-inch Kindle Fire “is the #1 best-selling product” on Amazon.com, and has earned more than “10,000 5-star ratings” since its launch on November 15, 2011. While all that is surely true, it does not take into consideration the recent launch of Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, which costs the same ($200), and is easily a better device.

While this announcement essentially confirms that a new Kindle Fire is on its way, rumors suggest that Amazon has more than one device up its sleeve, including a larger Kindle Fire tablet that measures 10-inches (about the same size as the iPad), as well as a smartphone. On those counts, we’ll just have to wait until next Thursday to find out.