As the global domination of Apple’s iPad continues, it is rumoured that Amazon will be announcing their own plans for a new tablet device at an exclusive press event today. Although the company have yet to make it official, the industry is buzzing with the possibility of another rival to the iPad.

There is currently very little known about the proposed tablet, which is mostly down to the company remaining tight lipped about its existence. If the rumours are true, the device will be unveiled at an exclusive invitation only event to be held in New York today. Even the invitations fail to give any more information however, and the whole event is shrouded in secrecy.

It is thought that a tablet from Amazon could pose a serious threat to the iPad’s market share, as Amazon already have a number of strong media offerings. It has been speculated that the tablet’s features will include access to the Amazon App store, native streaming capability for movies and TV and a customised version of Google’s Android operating system. Many people are also wondering about the cost of the product. The new iPad costs around $499, and there are hopes that the Amazon tablet may be priced below $300, and include Amazon Prime – their $79pa premium shipping and media service.

Amazon have proven they have what it takes in the hardware market, with the Kindle already being the eReader of choice. It’s expected that the Kindle will account for 10% of Amazon’s total revenue by 2012, that’s more than $6 billion, certainly a healthy figure!

Although there has been no official announcement, the name that Amazon have supposedly settled on is the Kindle Fire. Which begs the next big question… do they have the domain name to match? It isn’t immediately obvious from the WHOis who the .com domain is registered to, and the registrant is listed as a privacy contact. However, Domain Name Wire have confirmed with the previous registrant of the domain that he did indeed sell it to Amazon, which seems to confirm the rumours surrounding the announcement.

The individual who sold the domain was not willing to divulge any details, but I would have hoped he achieved his asking price as it is likely to be an integral part of Amazon’s marketing. The domain kindlefire.net is also registered with the same registrar with privacy details, so it seems they’ve grabbed this one too.

It looks like they missed out on the domains kindlefire.co, kindlefire.org and wwwkindlefire.com however, which are registered to various individuals with a number of different registrars. I sense some UDRP’s in Amazon’s future!

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