Kindle Fire launches – but you should wait for v2

RUMOUR has it that Amazon will release its answer to Apple’s iPad tomorrow, and it will be called the Kindle Fire. In a remarkably Apple-like gambit, Amazon has sent out an invitation to tech journalists to attend a press conference, but failed to tell them what it will be about.

According to TechCrunch, which earlier this month was given the new tablet to try out, 'Kindle Fire' is the name being used to differentiate the new device from the old e-ink Kindles with their black-and-white paper-like screens, which will continue to be sold.  

The Kindle Fire will be unveiled in New York on Wednesday at 3pm BST by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. However, it won’t be ready to buy until the second week of November.

So what will the Kindle Fire look like? According to gdgt, "the Amazon tablet will look like a PlayBook (above) - because it basically is". Apparently, in order to have the Fire ready in time for Christmas, Amazon outsourced production to Quanta, the electronics firm that made the PlayBook for RIM.

Quanta supposedly used the PlayBook tablet as a template, and the fact that the PlayBook has been poorly received does not bode well for the Fire.

According to gdgt’s sources, "this first tablet of theirs is 'supposed to be pretty poor' and is a 'stopgap'".  The message to gadget fiends seems to be: cool your heels and wait for the second generation Kindle Fire. ·