Amazon Sparks Siri-Clone Rumours with Text-to-Speech Buy

Amazon has acquired the text-to-speech technology company Ivona Software, which already powers the "Text-to-Speech," "Voice Guide" and "Explore by Touch" features on Kindle Fire tablets.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, although the move is being cited as a possible move by Amazon to develop its own clone of Apple's Siri service.

Additionally, Ivona delivers text-to-speech products and services for other non-Amazon customers.

"Ivona's exceptional text-to-speech technology leads the industry in natural voice quality, accuracy and ease of use. Ivona is already instrumental in helping us deliver excellent accessibility features on Kindle Fire," said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle.

Ivona offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages, and was established in 2001 by Łukasz Osowski and Michał Kaszczuk, fellow graduates of the Gdańsk University of Technology.