[I'll add new info and impressions to this thread over time.]
Ok, Amazon is really going the Apple design route (or trying to anyway) with the Kindle. Here's what you find in the brown Amazon box (sorry about the fuzzy cam-phone pics):
And inside the book (the text on the left reads Kindle (kin'del) v.t. 1. set on fire. 2. inspire, stir up. -v.i. 1 catch fire. 2. become animated):
Everything laid out:
In hand (still in its plastic wrap):
And next to a Sony Reader 500 (the screens are exactly the same dimensions even if it doesn't look that way here):
More to come...
Z.