Can Apple tablet PC iSlate knock off Amazon Kindle from its perch? (1)

Amazon, which has tasted considerable success with Kindle, which, since 2007, accounts for an estimated 90 percent share of e-book sales and have grown to be the e-book standard, announced barely a week before Apple's mega Jan. 27 event that it would be releasing a software development kit (SDK) that will enable coders to develop applications (apps), software and tools for Kindle users.

The first of its kind app store for e-readers, Amazon said, would comprise of active content that could range from travel guides (such as Zagat city guide), RSS news readers and other text-based widgets, to games such as Sudoku, crosswords puzzles and logic games.

Amazon's attempt to present Kindle as a standalone e-reader to a multimedia device underscores the online retail giant's growing fears that Apple's tablet PC iSlate is likely to compete directly with Kindle as a platform for the distribution of electronic books, newspapers and magazines while, at the same time, offering a range of other uses, including music, video and games.

More importantly, unlike Kindle, whose monochrome, eInk technology-based screen and button-based interface make it unsuitable for many types of applications as it refreshes too slowly to offer video or motion graphics, iSlate is expected to feature a lush, full-colour screen that can work as an e-reader as well as a powerful portable computer. In other words, iSlate looks to be a lot more versatile than the Kindle

Nor surprisingly, rumour mills are buzzing that iSlate will boast of features like Intel 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 7.1-inch widescreen multitouch display, 120GB HDD and 2GB DDR3 SDRAM, apart from other bells and whistles like built-in projector, WiFi and Bluetooth.

"The current Kindle platform isn't sufficient to really allow developers to do much," said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. According to McQuivey, downloading any app via the wireless connection of Kindle would be "painful" for Kindle users as it would "drain" their batteries quickly.

And, though Amazon is now trying to reposition Kindle as a multimedia device rather than a standalone e-reader, the fact that its app store will only be launched much later this year "might be too late, because Apple's tablet will be in full swing" by then. In addition, with its App Store already a huge success, Apple will be entering the market with a major advantage.

Agrees Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch.com. "If you are going to try to steal Apple's thunder just before its big Tablet announcement, you are going to have to do a little bit better than eInk Sudoku," wrote Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch.com.

"Amazon is obviously concerned that the forthcoming Apple Tablet, which will be able to function as a lush, full-colour electronic reader for newspapers, books, and magazines might overshadow the black-and-white Kindle with its dot-matrix feel," Schonfeld said.

"But given the choice between developing beautiful, touch-screen, GPS-enabled, gyroscopic apps for an Apple Tablet and dorky eInk apps for the Kindle, developers are going to go with the Tablet first, is my bet," he added.

In other words, iSlate looks all set to topple Kindle from its perch in the e-reader segment. Or will it?