[jordanroher]

It's a brilliant idea, and makes sense in context of Amazon setting up their own Android store. Of course, Amazon's Android store policies are fairly heavy-handed when compared to Google's, but if they launched their own tablet/phone it would make perfect sense. It solves the problem of why Android phone manufacturers don't really need to update their phones firmware: they're not getting a cut of the software revenues like Apple does.

But if Amazon had their own device, running their own store, hopefully not excluding the default store, they would have an incentive to keep it up to date with the latest Android OS. I would also imagine Amazon could do something worthwhile in their Android mods to improve usability, given that their entire business revolves around superior customer service.

An Amazon tablet could be gangbusters, and a way for Amazon to keep their Kindle owners from jumping ship to Apple's platform.

[stuartjmoore]

A "Kindle Color" would hurt the Kindle brand. Whenever I tell someone I have a Nook, they respond with "Oh, the color e-reader?" They don't even know an e-ink Nook exists.

Kindle == e-ink. Anything Amazon Tablet related should stay away from Kindle; closer to the movies and TV on demand.

[ZeroGravitas]

They could use the Pixel Qi screen and have something that is good for reading/ really long battery life but can also do video, color when necessary.

http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2011/01/10/ces-2011-from-a-pixel-qi...

I assumed this was what the article was talking about, instead it's just suggesting a Nook Color without needing the community supported software to access all the full functionality (which would be nice, but not amazing).

ZTE have already announced such a tablet, so Amazon could just use them as OEM if they've not already got something cooking in their labs.

http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2011/02/14/zte-introduces-7%e2%80%9...

[zdean]

of course nothing would stop them from having a Kindle and then a separate, full-featured tablet. As the Kindle moves towards a price point of $0 (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2266193), it creates room for a premium product.