Kindle Fire - Amazon Kindle Tablet

Are Touch Screen Tablets the Next Incarnation of Amazon’s Popular Kindle?

Behold the new Kindle Fire!

Tablet computers with touch screens are the new smart phones, and they are quickly becoming ubiquitous little devices in today’s tech-centric society.

Amazon is aiming to jump on the bandwagon by giving Kindles the tablet treatment, but is long-rumored Amazon's tablet, likely called the Kindle Fire, going to be yet another iPad knockoff or is it going to be something entirely different?

The first few generations of the Amazon Kindle were devoted squarely to reading, which made them intensely popular with Amazon book aficionados. They were portable, simple to use and did their job pretty well while keeping the costs down to a manageable level.

The recent news on the next generation Kindle, however, is both interesting and worrying at the same time.

Tablet computers like the iPad, Galaxy Tab and Xoom are already battling it out for tablet supremacy, and any attempt by Amazon to enter the fray head-on could prove disastrous.

If the next generation Kindle has too much power and too many features in it, then it risks getting swamped by the already-established competitors. If the same Kindle has too little power and too few features, then it risks being overshadowed by the existing tablets and their multi-role capabilities.

Amazon, however, has some cards up its sleeve. A multicolor touch screen will do wonders for interactive reading, while the Android OS can provide a cheap but flexible platform that grants access to the Android App store as well.

The 7” tablet category is also something that is sorely lacking in the tablet market, since most tablets duke it out on the larger 9” to 10” platforms.

If Amazon can fill this niche while maximizing the reading experience that the Kindle is known for, then they may just sneak up from behind and score a home run with the next-generation of Kindles (aka Kindle 4)

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No information about price, availability and specifications was found at the time of writing. But Amazon is expected to fill its first tablet with Amazon's very own Android OS in time for a pre-Christmas rush release. So stay tuned for updates.

Update: Numerous sources have suggested that Kindle Fire will be selling between $199 and $299 USD - pricing them hundreds beneath the iPad as well as most major Android competitors; a price point that many consumers may find it hard to resist.

If you’ve started to put together your Christmas shopping list already, make sure this Kindle Fire is on it.

For all of the bells and whistles that’ll come standard in the Kindle Tablet, and what it may look like, click here!