 (AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Dunand)
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Internet retail colossus Amazon.com on Thursday announced the purchase of a text-to-speech technology company in a move evidently aimed at ramping up the capabilities of its Kindle Fire tablet computers.
Amazon did not disclose financial terms of the deal to buy Poland-based Ivona Software, which it said already powers text-to-speech, Voice Guide, and Explore by Touch features on Kindle Fire tablets.
"The Ivona team shares our passion for innovation and customer obsession," Amazon Kindle vice president Dave Limp said in a release.
"We look forward to building great products to deliver world-class voice solutions to customers around the world."
Founded in 2001 by fellow graduates of Gdansk University of Technology, Ivona now touts a client list that includes thousands of business and software developers around the world.
"For more than ten years, the Ivona team has been focused on creating innovative text-to-speech technologies," said co-founder and chief executive Lukasz Osowski. "We are all thrilled that Amazon is supporting our growth."
Kindle Fire competes in a booming tablet arena with rivals including Apple and Google.
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