Amazon tablet to be called Kindle Fire, launch tomorrow

Amazon’s forthcoming Android tablet will be called the Amazon Kindle Fire, according to the latest round of rumours. And, with the same sources claiming it’s going to be revealed to the world this Wednesday, we won’t have long to find out whether or not that rumour is true.

Though eager not to cannibalise their strong eReader sales, it seems the decision has been made to piggy-back the tablet off of the strength of the Kindle brand.

If the Kindle eReader launch cycle is anything to go by, a Wednesday launch would line up a mid-November shipping date for US customers, with UK gadget fans likely having to wait until early in the new year.

So what do we know so far about the Kindle Fire in terms of its innards?

According to TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, you’re looking at a form factor that is similar to that of the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook, with ODM Quanta helping with the manufacturing duties.

Android version 2.1 (Eclair) is surprisingly the OS of choice, according to rumours too. But a dramatic re-skinning of the OS will make it all-but unrecogniseable as an Android device.

Content will likely determine the tablet’s fate, and here Amazon apparently have things well sewn up. Magazine publishers Hearst, Conde Nast, Meredith and Time Warner are all signed up to produce issues for the tablet, alongside Amazon’s own impressive books, mp3s and apps stores.