Amazon was totally sleeping on the iPad, which many predicted. So they announced and the Kindle Development Kit.

Now, the computer press is panning Amazon. Oh well. The iPad looks good, but, just speaking as a Kindle user, the e-ink screen and cheaper pricing are still advantages.

Another thing that the KDK plan does nice is incremental pricing for data. The iPad basically uses the iPhone model - pay a lot for lots of data. So, are you supposed to pay for an iPhone, a DSL or cable internet, and an iPad? That's expensive.

The other thing that's not cool about the iPad is its weight. I'd prefer that the ebook lines become lighter. Right now, the Kindle weighs nearly a pound, and that gets heavy in the arms. Lighter is better.

I'm waiting for the KDK with baited breath. I'm using a cheap hack to read email on it already, and there's a lot of potential for a lot of useful apps and add ons.

The Kindle is written in Java, running on a Linux kernel, so, it's not weird or anything.