Demo units of Amazon's rumored Kindle tablet have apparently started making their rounds, moving the device that much closer to the market. Simply known as the "Amazon Kindle," the tablet will sport a 7-inch capacitance touch screen and 6GB of built-in storage. In addition, the Amazon Kindle will not have any physical buttons on the surface of the device, will come without a camera and will be Wi-Fi only--at least the initial version. The relatively modest hardware apparently makes it possible for Amazon to sell the device at an attractive price tag of $250, with a release date planned at the end of November.

Under the hood, the Amazon Kindle will be a fork of Android 2.2, and so customized that "it looks nothing like the Android you're used to seeing," writes TechCrunch's MG Siegler, who played with one for about an hour. Indeed, with development done independently of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) efforts, the Amazon Kindle will not even feature Android Market. 

Default Apps on the tablet will integrate with Amazon's own services however, and reveals the company's long-term strategy of domination through content. For example, the music player is Amazon's Cloud Player, while the movie player is Amazon's Instant Video player. 

The app store? Amazon's own Android App Store, of course. Kindle fans will be happy to learn that the Kindle App on the Amazon Kindle will be similar to the current iOS version. Finally, a web browser with support for tabs is also present, and is believed to be based on Webkit.

I do a lot of reading, mostly via the Kindle App on my iPad or iPhone. While I can't say that I will be getting one, I'm certainly looking forward to the arrival of the Amazon Kindle tablet. Will you get one?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at TechCrunch 
- check out this article at CNET News

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