Amazon.com Inc. is showing signs of app envy.

The e-commerce giant says it plans to invite software developers to create programs that would allow its Kindle e-reader device to take on a wider range of uses.

To aid in that process, Amazon will give programmers access to technology and tools to help them build "active content," which it aims to sell in the Kindle store later this year.

Amazon is borrowing a page from Apple Inc. and its popular app store for the iPhone. It comes just days before Apple is expected to unveil a tablet computer that is likely to compete directly with the Kindle as a platform for the distribution of electronic books while offering a range of other uses, including music, video and games.

There will be some differences from smartphone app stores that have proliferated over the last two years. For one, the Kindle's screen—based on a technology from E Ink— is black and white, and refreshes too slowly to offer video or motion graphics.