It seems that Amazon has plans for more text-to-voice functionality on its Amazon Kindle Fire tablets other than "Text-to-Speech," "Voice Guide," and "Explore by Touch". The reason we say this is that the company behind the technology used for these features, IVONA Software, was snapped up by the online retailer on Thursday for an undisclosed amount of money.
The Amazon Kindle Fire HD
IVONA has more clients than just the online retailer. The company counts many other firms worldwide as customers for its text-to-speech products. IVONA can match up its technology to meet what its customers need, especially with 44 different voices speaking 17 different languages ready to convert the typed word into sound.
Lukasz Osowski, CEO and co-founder of IVONA said that the company is ready to continue to bring innovative products to its customers needing voice and language support, so this also could be a shrewd investment for Amazon as well as owning the company behind some of the features on the Amazon Kindle Fire tablets. We'd also expect to see Amazon work with IVONA on something proprietary in the field of text-to-voice that might give Android tablet buyers a reason, other than price, to buy an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.
"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. 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."-Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle
"For more than ten years, the IVONA team has been focused on creating innovative text-to-speech technologies. We are all thrilled that Amazon is supporting our growth so that we can continue to innovate and deliver exceptional voice and language support for our customers."-Lukasz Osowski, CEO and co-founder, IVONA
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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