Amazon kindling?

The worst-kept secret in Wired world is out: Apple are soon to launch a new hardware product called perhaps iSlate or iGuide to fill the gap between MacBook and iPhone. In other words, a larger Apple interface for watching TV and videos, reading online newspapers and magazines, video-conferencing and -- crucially -- downloading ebooks.

Battle will soon be joined with Amazon's Kindle 2 reader, and there will be no real contest. The relative share prices of Apple and Amazon make interesting reading; perhaps Kindle will be seen in hindsight as a loss leader in PR terms as Apple iSlate/iGuide apps get devised to convert Amazon-format ebooks on to other platforms? Will Kindle go up in smoke?