The company has registered a set of domain names which seem to point in that direction.
This week, Amazon’s (AMZN) legal department began registering lots of domains around the “scratchpad” moniker. Here’s a small sample:
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
‘MWS’ prefix refers to Marketplace Web Service so the name could also refer to a web app that uses Amazon’s services.
Update: TheNextWeb thinks this is the case, saying
The Amazon Scratchpad apps have long been available to developers as tools for testing various Amazon Web Service APIs without writing code for them, such as this one for EC2.
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.
The implication is that Amazon will release an Google (GOOG) Android or similar tablet with that name in the near future. Amazon has been rumored to be developing an Android tablet at their secret Silicon Valley Lab 126. Amazon, many experts think, may be a great candidate to build a quality Android ecosystem because the parts are already in place: Amazon already operates an Android Appstore and Video, Music and eBooks shopping units are already built and operating. Amazon announced its Cloud storage for music last night. The last piece of the puzzle would be the tablet.
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