A new report coming from Asia reveals the fact that Amazon may have problems with the next-gen Kindle reader devices, which prevent the company from launching them according to the initial internal schedule.

The unreliable Digitimes reports that the electronics retailer is “facing problems with mass production due to problems with the device’s front light design” and that's why the device will only ship only later in the third quarter. A release date for the new Kindles – or for the new Kindle Fires, for that matter – is not given yet.

Why is this important for the Android ecosystem you ask? In late September 2011, when Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos took the stage during the company’s special Kindle event, the Kindle Fire was officially unveiled right alongside three new Kindle models. These devices were then made available for pre-order and they shipped in the following months.

Just recently, Google unveiled its own Kindle Fire killer, the Android Jelly Bean-running Nexus 7, which is due to hit stores these days. Amazon is rumored to unveile the Kindle Fire 2 versions at some point in the near future, during a special media event where we’d also expect to see the new Kindle-reader models introduced. So in case today’s report is based on real events – we won’t get any confirmation from either Amazon or its supply chain partners – then it will certainly be interesting to see how this Kindle delay would affect the announcement of the Kindle Fire 2 family, not to mention the tablet's launch.

We have already compiled a list of existing rumors featuring the Kindle Fire 2 for you, a device that we expect to intensify the competition in the 7-inch tablet market, but we’ll be back with more Kindle Fire 2 news once we have them.