Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday that it acquired speech-recognition company Ivona Software, a sign the world's largest Internet retailer may be looking to develop more services similar to Apple Inc's Siri voice-based search product. Amazon did not say how much it paid for Ivona and an Amazon spokeswoman failed to comment on a purchase price.Ivona's technology already supports several features on Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet computers, such as "Text-to-Speech," said Dave Limp, who oversees the Kindle business."We look forward to building great products to deliver world-class voice solutions to customers around the world," Limp said in a statement.Apple's Siri service on its iPhone smartphones lets users ask questions and delivers answers, suggestions or actions. Ivona's text-to-speech technology on Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablets reads Kindle e-books aloud to users.
Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon.com) serves consumers through its retail Websites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. Shares of AMZN traded higher by 2.79% or $7.49/share to $275.60. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $172.00 and as high as $274.50. On average, 3269490 shares of AMZN exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1596552.
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