Just one week before the anticipated announcement of Apple’s new tablet device, Amazon has announced the release of an SDK (Software Development Kit) for its Kindle e-book reader. The Kindle SDK will allow application developers to create apps for the Kindle device. Amazon seems to be emulating Apple’s hugely successful iPhone SDK, which has led to the development of hundreds of thousands of free and for-sale applications that are available for download from the iTunes App Store.

The Apple table device (rumored to be called the iPad) will most likely have an e-book reader capability and will probably also be able to play music and video (like an iPod) and run apps (like an iPhone and iPod Touch).  It may give the Kindle a run for its money.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year, Plastic Logic demonstrated its ultra-thin, large-screen document and book reader. This device is large enough to display 81/2 by 11 inch documents in full-size. The company is positioning itself to compete with other eBook readers on the market, which is currently dominated by Amazon’s Kindle. See the PlasticLogic eReader demo in this YouTube video:

Yet another Kindle model has been introduced by Amazon. The Kindle 2 was launched on February 9, with a 6-inch screen (roughly the size of a mass-market paperbook). The new Kindle DX has a 9.7 inch screen. According to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the DX is perfect for college students reading textbooks and business professionals reading documents. The DX has a built-in PDF reader, allowing readers to access the thousands of volumes available on Google Books. With a weight of 19 ounces, the DX is engineered to not feel big and bulky. The thing that is big is the cost — at $490, it’s the costliest Kindle to date.