Five things we want from the Amazon tablet

With that in mind, here are five things we want to see from Amazon to as a matter of fact shake up the tablet market and present business users with a genuinely exciting alternative.

Reports that the Android-based tablet will have a 7-inch screen will please those who just want a lightweight e-reader which can access the web as so then as e-books, however we're not convinced that such a small screen is so then suited for general purpose computing as a larger 10-inch tablet would be. For business users and IT departments, a bigger device will mean easier typing and simpler use of complicated, more granular apps, just as analytics software.

The small matter of apps

There's as well the small matter of apps. Since Amazon's tablet will allegedly use a heavily customised version of Android 2.3 instead of 3.0, it won't be able to run the available selection of tablet-optimised Android apps. Whether the lure of Amazon's own app store will be enough to compensate for this remains to be seen - especially if Amazon's heavy customisations means the tablet will never be upgradeable to either Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich.

For the business user although, Amazon could help kick start development efforts with its own apps that tie in with its AWS and S3 services. With so many companies running their infrastructure in the AWS cloud, having quality cloud management software would be a real boon for Amazon clients in IT.

A key part of the iPad's success is its tight integration with the iTunes and App Stores and Amazon has the most potential out of all competitors to match this in the business sphere as so then as in the consumer market.

Good model to follow

Whilst tight integration is a good model to follow, Amazon should stay then away from trying to imitate the iPad. Not a single tablet has shown itself to be in fact competitive with Apple's device - truly not in terms of sales for the time being. Why not? Because they have tried to do what the iPad does without offering many noticeable differentiators.

If Amazon actually is taking the Android code and turning it into something un-Android, this can only be positive. Consumers need to be presented with a real alternative, with an OS that looks and feels different, but has real quality too. Moving away from the typical iOS-like grid of icons could be one way to aesthetic differentiation, however if done in a user friendly, efficient way, it could start a trend of its own.

Just as Microsoft have attempted something different with Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8, Amazon would do then to move away from the imitators and become the true innovator the market needs. If not you can expect Apple to stay so then ahead of the pack.