Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in an interview later on Wednesday effectively confirmed plans for an Amazon-branded tablet. When asked, he used cautious language and said customers should “stay tuned” on what Amazon would do. He explained to Consumer Reports that the company would be “mindful” of keeping devices like the Kindle but couldn’t confirm or deny what was coming down the pipeline.
“In terms of any other product introductions, I shouldn’t answer,” Bezos said.
Recent leaks have had a tablet well into development with Quanta as the contract manufacturer producing the hardware for a second-half 2011 release. It may have been designed by Samsung with Amazon mostly providing feedback and the software side. Android would be a virtual certainty given Amazon’s exclusive apps, such as Amazon MP3 and the Amazon Appstore.
