Amazon acquires text-to-speech firm Ivona

Amazon has acquired Inova the text-to-speech firm charged with building speech features on the Kindle tablet.

The company said that it would be purchasing Ivona, a developer which has previously partnered with the company on text-to-speech features. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based out of Poland, Ivona specialises multilingual text-to-speech software for mobile device and PC developers. While Amazon did not say whether it would be operating the new acquisition as a separate entity, Ivona did say with it would be looking to grow its business going forward.

"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, including Text-to-Speech, Voice Guide and Explore by Touch," said Amazon Kindle vice president Dave Limp.

"The Ivona team shares our passion for innovation and customer obsession, and we look forward to building great products to deliver world-class voice solutions to customers around the world."

The acquisition comes as Amazon looks to build momentum behind its Kindle brand. Amazon has claimed a sizeable share of a tablet market which analysts have pegged to expand to over 261 million units sold by 2016.

Last year alone, analysts estimate that some 122.3 million tablets were sold, a growth rate so dramatic that it has resulted in a downturn for the PC industry.