Amazon has always been very secretive on anything related to cost and sales figures surrounding its Kindle 2 e-reader, however, a new report by market research firm iSuppli may answer speculation.

El Segundo, Calif. - based iSuppli recently released its analysis of the Kindle 2 after a dissection conducted by the company's Teardown Analysis Service.

iSuppli said the device costs $185.49 to manufacture, or about 52-percent of its manufacturer suggested retail price of $359.

The most expensive piece of the Kindle, unsurprisingly, is the E Ink display at roughly 42-percent of the total material cost.

According to company, the main application chip in the device, manufactured by Freescale Semiconductor, which also powers Microsoft's Zune and the Ford Sync's media controls, costs $8.64.

While on the surface it seems that the Kindle 2's profit margin is rather large, it is important to note that these estimates don't include research and development, licensing and royalty fees for some of the components, and the firmware that actually runs the reader.

Inquiries to the Amazon's public relations department were not immediately returned.

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