Amazon is gearing up to enter the competitive, but rather crowded, tablet PC market. It is planning to introduce a tablet computer by October. This move is seen as direct competition between Apple and Amazon, as Apple is rumored to launch its next generation iPad HD around same time.

Amazon is also prepping to release two updated versions of the black and white Kindle electronic reader in the third quarter of the year. The higher price Kindle reader will boast a touch screen display, while the other will be an improved version of the current Kindle, but without a touch screen.

Amazon didn’t confirm the release date yet, but the company’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, in a recent media meet hinted about a tablet release in near future. “We will always be very mindful that we will want a dedicated reading device,” Bezos told the media. “In terms of any other product introductions, I shouldn’t answer.”

Bezos went on to say, “It would be positioned as a supplement to Amazon’s popular e-reader, not a replacement. And it certainly wouldn’t use color E-Ink.”

The tablet will have a 9-inch display and will run on Google’s Android operating system, including a quad-core processor and some powerful hardware, but will not have a camera associated with it. The tablet will be designed and manufactured by an Asian company. The Kindle device from Amazon is one of its bestselling devices and its Kindle store offers one of the largest bookstores on the web. The Appstore for Android, MP3 and video services and recent cloud storage services are their popular tools and Amazon is hoping to integrate all these tools on their own tablets.

The tablet will offer Amazon users to watch and play videos and music, read electronic books from its Kindle store and use of the existing Android apps from Android marketplace. Amazon has its own retail website and digital content stores which will help to promote and distribute its tablet plan.

It is going to be a difficult task for Amazon as they will directly compete with Apple’s wildly popular iPad, and even Samsung’s Galaxy Tab series, but if they come with a user friendly kindle format along with Google’s mobile OS, built-in integration of their popular services, efficiency in terms of battery life (as seen in Kindle and storage space), we could see a new contender for consumer appeal in the coming months.