By Hannah Johnson

Amazon is about to add another feather in it’s cap. Forrester Research predicts that the Android-powered Amazon tablet, which is rumored to be released this year, will quickly become a legitimate competitor for the iPad. Forrester Research has compiled a report “explaining exactly how, and why, Amazon will disrupt the tablet market.”

Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps writes, “Amazon’s willingness to sell hardware at a loss combined with the strength of its brand, content, cloud infrastructure, and commerce assets makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market. If Amazon launches a tablet at a sub-$300 price point — assuming it has enough supply to meet demand — we see Amazon selling 3-5 million tablets in Q4 alone.”

This could be a huge boost for Google’s Android platform, particularly in the wake of its purchase of Motorola, meant to strengthen the Android platform against competitors like Apple.

For publishers, the combination of a tablet PC and Amazon’s growing interest in publishing and e-books could mean another huge sales channel for e-books and other book-related content. The Kindle was a decisive factor in the large-scale adoption of e-books, and the Amazon tablet will be one more reason for consumers to switch from print to digital books.

As a side note, Forrester apparently had this report ready some time ago, but waited to publish it: “We held off publishing it last week out of respect for Steve Jobs, and we have great admiration for his inventions and influence on our culture.” Wow, either the Amazon tablet is going to totally destroy the iPad, or this Steve worship is getting out of control.