Amazon's Android Kindle tablet: coming on Wednesday to New York?

The announcement of a press conference by the internet retailer on 28 September has primed expectation of a serious rival to Apple's iPad

• Charles Arthur
• guardian.co.uk, Friday 23 September 2011
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  What will a new tablet from Amazon do for reading? Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

  
  
  Amazon has sent out invitations to a press conference in New York next Wednesday at which it is expected to unveil a tablet based on Google's Android operating system. Analysts say that the offering, from the company which revolutionised electronic reading with its Kindle e-reader, could provide the first serious challenge to Apple's iPad.
  The company declined to comment on what will be released but analysts were confident that the world's largest Internet retailer will use the tablet computer to expand in mobile commerce and sell more digital goods and services.
  "Wednesday is tablet day," BGC partners analyst Colin Gillis told Reuters.
  Some details of the tablet have leaked out via suppliers and the press: it is expected to have a 7in touch screen and run Amazon's own version of Android. While there are many Android tablets on sale, none has been able to compete effectively with Apple's iPad, of which about 29m have been sold since its launch in April 2010. A report on Techcrunch earlier this month suggested that it will also be called Kindle.
  Full report at The Guardian.