Is the Kindle toast?

Everyone's excited about Apple's new iPad — except maybe Amazon, which seems to be preparing for the fight of its life. As word leaked that Apple is taking on the Kindle by offering authors and publishers better terms than Amazon, the online retailing giant countered an announcement that it will offer iPhone-like apps for its Kindle. But some tech pundits think the move is too little too late. Can Amazon survive Apple's onslaught? (Watch a Bloomberg report about the iPad's impact on online publishing)

Amazon should be scared: The iPad clearly will "put Amazon's Kindle to shame," says Erik Schonfeld in TechCrunch. And if Apple partners with Barnes & Noble, as has been rumored, that would be Amazon's "worst nightmare."

"The Apple tablet may come with a Barnes & Noble bookstore"

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There's great value in the Kindle as a dedicated e-reader: People love the Kindle because it lets them read in peace, says Tony Bradley in PC World, without being interrupted by email, "fart noise apps," or any of the myriad other diversions that will inevitably be available on the iPad.

"Kindle users aren't looking for a tablet PC"

No worries, Amazon — the iPad will flop: There are so many reasons the iPad shouldn't be a threat to the Kindle, says Clinton Stark at StarkSilverCreek. To start with, it's a lot more expensive — a real problem in this economy. Moreover, it's "redundant": many of the other interactive devices we already have, like smart phones and laptops, already do the iPad's work.

"3 Reasons why Apple tablet will fail (and why I’ll still buy one)"

Amazon failed the Big Brother test — will Apple? As Kindle readers learned last year, Amazon can remotely zap your book purchases, says Matthew Burton in The Guardian. If Apple similarly tries to exert "final say over our bookshelves," it's surrendering what could potentially be a huge potential advantage.

"Should we let Apple decide what we read?"