There have been lots of rumors of an Amazon Android tablet.
TechCrunch has been speculating for months that Amazon could very well be working on their own device to compete in the tablet space. Last week, Amazon’s Android App store launched, and shortly after, TechCrunch argued that Amazon needs to get cracking on its own tablet.
Well, things looks more promising for an Amazon tablet.
According to the latest domain registrations by Amazon’s Legal Department, the device may be called the “Amazon Scratchpad”.
Created on…………..: 2011-03-25
Expires on…………..: 2012-03-24.
Record last updated on..: 2011-03-25.
http://whois.domaintools.com/amazonscratchpad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/amazonmwsscratchpad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/mws-scratchpad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/mwscratchpad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/mwsscratchpad.com
News of these domain registrations hasn’t come out before now.
Here’s a look a the Whois record for amazonscratchpad.com.
[UPDATE Mar. 30th, 2011, 7:25PM EST: The original story above has set off a flurry of activity on major technology blogs and news sites. Shortly after it went online a reader had already indicated “Scratchpad” was being used for Amazon’s Marketplace Web Service in the comments, but that didn’t stop a number of major sites running the story and crediting this site.
Story credits included CNNMoney, The Next Web, and Business Insider (ran two stories). SlashGear and Gizmodo also chimed in.]
[UPDATE 2 Mar. 29th, 2011, 9:41 PM EST:. The Next Web writes, “The fact that these tools have been around for years and the inclusion of MWS in the name is a dead giveaway: if Amazon does release a tablet, it won’t be called the Scratchpad — unless their legal department has just pulled off a clever stunt in misdirection.”]
[UPDATE 1 Mar. 29th, 2011, 9:35 PM EST:. Reader Brent Nau said in the comments, “Looking into this a bit, “MWS” refers to Amazon Marketplace Web Service. Looks like the reference to “scratchpad” is geared to a sandbox area to run tests against the API possibly”…]