Amazon, the electronic commerce giant, will unveil the Kindle Fire. Amazon's Jeff Bezos will take stage to introduce everyone to a more affordable alternative to the iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

The price for the device is speculated to be half the price of the iPad going around $250 to $300. It would be different from the Kindles of the past with its features. It supports music and video streaming, web browsing and apps built for the Android platform. It also will feature a 7-inch backlit touchscreen display. It is manufactured by Quanta, the same manufacturer of RIM's Playbook.

While it may be seen as an alternative to the two competing giants, it is actually a direct competitor to Barnes and Noble's Nook Color 2 for the coming holiday season. Kindle Fire may spell trouble for the ailing Barnes and Noble. It also explains the size of the device. It perfectly fits a pocket, can be comfortably held by one hand and won't be in direct competition with the iPad. Amazon has also hinted on producing a 9 or 10 inch model after the 2011 holiday season.

One of the many strengths of the Kindle brand is that it is backed by the electronic commerce giant, Amazon, so it would have no trouble in availability. The large collection of books available digitally from Amazon also would be a better alternative than iTunes to bibliophiles.

Amazon has launched an Andoid app store into its Amazon ecosystem so soon you could be playing Angry Birds on your Kindle when not reading a book. While being Android driven, the version the device uses is a custom flavor of Android. That means updating the device is up to Amazon and all the apps must be first approved by Amazon.

Being an e-reader dipping its foot as a full-fledged multimedia device, it still doesn't have any camera functionality. So don't expect to take pictures or make video conference. This might make it hard to enter into Apple's stranglehold in the tablet market but it is a great addition to the e-book market.