Off-hand I'd guess firmware/software update. I think that MobileRead alone has given them ample suggestions/feedback to make up that sort of an update. As far as timing goes, it will probably take a couple-few months to get the adjustments done and thoroughly tested -- they won't want to throw out a quick and dirty patch that hoses the stability of the existing OS. The Reader does have some lacks, no arguement there, but it's remarkably stable.
I'd expect that hardware updates would be on the order of at least a year, if they started them some time ago, which I doubt (though I did get the impression they might have started thinking about them), so probably more like 2~3+ years out.
Salt to taste.