Those Kindle Fire 2 release date rumors are heating up as the Christmas holiday shopping season is approaching rapidly. The latest reports indicate that the new Kindle could be announced in mid-July by Amazon, along with Apple’s iPhone 5 release date and plenty of other tech goodies. According to the Bangkok Post, there is a major announcement coming from Apple on September 12th, which will probably be its new iPhone. However, they are also expected to reveal the 7-inch mini iPad, which should be heavy competition for the Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7. With that in mind, they say of Amazon: “Which brings us to Amazon’s own announcements, with an expected update to the Kindle Fire, launched a year ago. Its new version should be slimmer and lighter, with improved screen definition.” Not only will it need to be those things, but also faster and ready to do battle with the likes of a smaller iPad, and the already hot Nexus 7. Amazon was expected to unveil the device by some in late July. It’s now early August with nothing yet, and that is probably a sign that Amazon wants this new version of the Kindle Fire to be prepared for the competition. It’s a fierce battle in the small tablet PC world, so Amazon will need to “Fire” on all cylinders if it wants to sell units this holiday shopping season. Do you think Amazon will announce the new Kindle Fire 2 release date this month, or not until September?