Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon’s decision to open the Kindle up to developers is a good, if late, idea. Clearly another response to the upcoming Apple tablet, the Kindle SDK could turn the mostly single-use device into a multifaceted source of entertainment.

Or not.

One of the reasons I love the Kindle is that it doesn’t try to do too much. I rarely use any of the experimental features Amazon built for it because, frankly, they stink. Web browsing on the Kindle is a painful experience. The browser can barely handle simple HTML and the screen refresh simply isn’t designed to handle the interactivity found on Web sites.

So what will developers do with the Kindle SDK? Already a couple, such as Handmark and Zagat, are building apps and games for the Kindle. Electronics Art’s mobile division is promising big things, too. Still, it’s a limited platform. It has a slow-to-update black-and-white E Ink screen, a zippy 3G Whispernet, speakers, a keyboard, and firm control buttons. Is there any hardware inside that Amazon hasn’t turned on? I hope so.

In any event, I asked my Twitter followers what apps they’d like to see developed for the Kindle. Perhaps because the Kindle hardware is so limited, I got just a few suggestions. I’ve added some ideas I heard around the office, as well as a few of my own.