Latest Update: After months of hype, Amazon.com on Wednesday (Oct 28, 2011) has just unveiled its very own tablet — Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet with a $199 price tag; along with a new line of Kindles with a $149 Kindle Touch 3G, a $99 Kindle Touch without 3G, and a non-touch $79 Kindle.

Running on Android OS with a 7 inch color screen with multi-touch function, Amazon’s Kindle Tablet is showing great potential to be the only legitimate competitor for the iPad.

But don’t expect your favorite Android applications to run on “Fire”! Amazon has gone to great lengths to make their tablet’s interface completely different from all other competing devices. It may use Android, but it is the type of Android that has been exclusively reworked for the Kindle.

What You Can Expect from Kindle Fire

1. Full color 7″ touchscreen (10″ in 2012)
2. It’s built on Android 3.1 OS — you’ll be able to get Android apps through Amazon’s Appstore
3. 8GB of storage — possibly more with Amazon Cloud Drive
4. 8 hours or so battery life
5. Free cloud storage
6. No camera
7. (unconfirmed) No color e-ink display
8. (unconfirmed) No 3G connectivity
9. And yes, it’s a Kindle (aka Kindle 4)

So how much will the 7″ Kindle Fire cost?

Numerous sources have suggested that it will be selling at $250 USD – pricing them hundreds beneath the entry-level iPad as well as most major Android competitors; a price point that many consumers may find it hard to resist.

Update: The Kindle Fire will sell for $199, compared with $499 for Apple’s cheapest iPad. It will be available for pre-order today and ship Nov. 15.

Sources close to Amazon reveal that if the 7-inch version of the tablet proves to be an instant success, the company will push through with its plans to release a 10-inch version in the first quarter of 2012.

As the market waits anxiously for the release of Amazon’s Tablet, additional or surprising features may still be underway before, if any, the official announcement.

However, with Apple’s iPad controlling 70-80% of the tablet marketshare, will Amazon’s strategy of “competing with the iPad by trying to be the iPad” really work? We won’t know for sure (someone probably did) but one thing is quite certain, Kindle tablet will be on many people’s holiday wish-list this year – with or without the color e-ink display.

Editor’s Note: We’ll keep up updated as we have more details!

If a bargain is what you are hunting for and do not mind a little wear and tear on your device, you can also try your luck at e-Bay. You just might get lucky and snag a pre-owned Kindle through an auction without having to outbid anyone at all.

Social media can sometimes be of help. It does not hurt to float around inquiries through Facebook or Twitter and you are likely to get a few responses from your connections at least. Craigslist and sites like it float a lot of product information so it also will not hurt to check it out. But remember, if it sounds too good to be true – it probably is.