The rumours have been flying, but now it looks certain that Amazon will release their new tablet, supposedly called the Kindle Fire, on September 28.

This is going to be a big deal for those in the publishing industry, because not only did Hearst form a potentially lucrative partnership with Amazon prior to the release of this device, but Conde Nast and Meredith are also on board with the new tablet.

So, what's it like? Good, apparently.

Here comes the tech bit: the tablet will run on a customised version of Android - which apparently bears no cosmetic resemblance to the system as it currently appears on other devices - that will rely heavily on Amazon's own appstore, MP3 store and, naturally, the Kindle Bookstore. The device uses multi-touch technology to navigate - so no buttons, just a slick screen. In appearance it is very similar to the BlackBerry PlayBook, probably because it was actually designed by the same company. Amazon wanted The Fire to be stoked and ready for the December shopping period so outsourced the design to PlayBook developers Quanta.