Amazon has quietly dedicated an entire company to producing its Kindle Fire and future tablets. Five US trademark filings (one, two, three, four, five) for the Kindle Fire and its Silk browser are attributed to Seesaw LLC, a company based in Delaware for what’s likely legal and taxs reasons. The attorneys who filed for the trademarks are the same as those who have filed for many of Amazon’s own.
Seesaw likely has its main offices in Amazon’s home of Seattle or somewhere other than Delaware. It also isn’t the only dedicated hardware group at Amazon, as Lab126 has been producing all of Amazon’s e-paper Kindle hardware, likely including the Kindle Touch.
The reasons behind breaking out the tablet group aren’t official but could well be the same behind Lab126. By creating a separate company, Amazon might have an easier time investing directly into the Kindle Fire than it would if it were just a sub-division. It also keeps the group culturally separate from Amazon’s main online store business and could help Amazon avoid trouble if someone tries to sue over the Kindle Fire.
Microsoft will likely try to extract Kindle Fire royalties for Android use as part of its campaign to discourage use of non-Windows hardware.
