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Amazon’s Kindle is arguably the most successful ereader on the market. That success comes courtesy of the team working in Lab 126, Amazon’s hardware development lab. Lab 126 has recently begun hiring on some new talent. The new job openings could simply be a sign that Amazon is planning on releasing a new version of the Kindle soon, but the New Your Times has received some interesting information from an inside source that seems to contradict that.

It seems that, in addition to the Kindle, Amazon is looking to develop several other electronic devices in house. There has been talk of a wide variety of devices from media players to mobile phones. In fact, it seems that an Amazon phone designed to compete with the iPhone was up for discussion. The idea was ultimately shot down due to the extensive development costs involved with making a strong competitor to the iPhone. The idea hasn’t been completely ruled out as a future project though.

While Lab 126 has some big ideas about Amazon’s hardware future, it seems none of those ideas will be coming to consumers anytime soon. There are currently over 80 job openings in Amazon’s hardware division, and some of them are proving very hard to fill.

Any devices produced by Amazon would just be a means to an end. Amazon is looking for more ways to push their digital offerings to consumers, and releasing devices that can integrate directly with Amazon’s digital store is a great way to meet that goal. Apple is always looking for new ways to peddle digital goods, and they have recently opened up the iBook store, which is a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle book store. Apple has one very large advantage: their hardware. Apple’s iBooks are available on iPods, iPhones, and iPads, all of which have proven to be extremely popular. With their devices in the hands of so many consumers, it’s easy for Apple to push new digital products. If Amazon can develop a popular line of gadgets to rival Apple’s offerings, then they will be able to compete directly with Apple in the digital space.

As of right now, all of this information should be considered as nothing more than a rumor. The New York Times got this information from an anonymous inside source at Amazon, and as such, none of this is completely guaranteed to be true. Still, it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months and years.