Amazon is building an app store and a new device for the Android Market

Amazon is building an app store and a new device for the Android Market as it looks to deliver proprietary products beyond the Kindle. 

Also in today's App Industry Roundup, BlackBerry reveals its "PlayBook" while a new iPad rumor says the next device from Apple will be thinner.Web retailer Amazon.com is preparing to launch a store for Android apps, according to TechCrunch. If true, Amazon will join a growing field of companies that look to offer their own versions of an Android storefront.Most of the action is coming from the carriers, as both Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile are creating new versions of an Android store to appeal to their customers. The T-Mobile store, for instance, is expected to lean heavily on apps that appeal to families.

The interesting thing about Amazon's approach is that it appears to be acting more like a gatekeeper for apps than T-Mobile's glorified recommendation engine. Hence, it's akin to Apple's approach, where it will have strict requirements on what apps will be approved for sale and they will to be "laced with Amazon DRM," according to TechCrunch.

 The store will be U.S. based to start, and reporter MC Siegler did not have information on a launch date or the devices that will work with the store.However, in a later post, Siegler wrote that there were strong rumors that Amazon is developing and would sell an Android tablet of its own to compete with the Apple iPad. That sounds completely logical as Amazon looks to push beyond its successful foray into eReaders -- the Kindle -- into new devices.