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John Gruber indeed thinks Amazon is getting into the tablet business:

I think this is Amazon’s first step towards launching their own Amazon-branded (or perhaps Kindle-branded) Android devices, where the Amazon Appstore will be preinstalled, and the devices will ship from Amazon with your Amazon credentials already set up on the device (as with the Kindle hardware today). They’re launching now, for existing Android devices, to work out the kinks and build the library of available titles.

Want more evidence? Last year they bought Touchco¹, a startup that has developed a specialized type of touch screens that are sensitive to different levels of pressure and capable of detecting an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.

Do those sorts of features matter for an iPad competitor? Maybe not, but it certainly is intriguing to think about. It also shows that Amazon is doing something with touch in their Kindle labs and most likely has it on the roadmap at some point.

What’s even more interesting is where Google fits into the equation. Google’s decision to release Android as a “free”, open source platform has led to mass adoption by handset manufacturers looking for a modern iOS alternative. It has also led to fragmentation as each phone manufacturer has tweaked and adjusted Google’s core OS to suit their own needs and been slow to update existing phones with more modern versions of the OS after sale. In all of these cases, however, Google was a key selling point in the process with the Android Marketplace and the Google apps.

In order to be marketed as “with Google” and include the Google apps such as Marketplace, YouTube, Google Maps, Navigation, and Gmail a device must sign a partnership deal with Google and be certified to meet Google’s standards for Android devices. Almost every device you see at a mobile store is certified and come bundled with the full Google experience, whereas the $200 Android tablets you can pick up at K-Mart or the Barnes & Noble Nook are not.

It is entirely possible that Amazon is building their own, full-featured tablet platform but cutting Google out of the equation entirely, save for it being powered by Android at its core. The question is with Amazon handling movies, music, books and apps, would Google be willing to an Android powered Amazon tablet to run the Google apps such as. My first inclination is to say yes given that 96% of Google’s present revenue is from advertising, though they have been wanting to make inroads into selling more content with YouTube, the forthcoming Google Music, and its own bookstore.

If they don’t certify an Amazon tablet as “with Google”, it will be the biggest clue that the company is looking to shift away from being just a search and advertising firm and more towards a content company.² Larry’s first few months on the job are looking to be a doozy.