Amazon to Buy Touch Start Up Touchco

February 3, 2010 By Dena Cassella

Reports are brewing that Amazon will buy Touchco to further attempt to take on Apple's iPad.

Do we smell a competition brewing? The New York Times reported today that Amazon has acquired New York technology company Touchco to give its Kindle e-reader a serious upgrade. Touchco specializes in touchscreen technology and, according to reports, this partnership is moving quickly as the company’s staff is readying to settle in with Amazon’s Kindle hardware division.

“Touchco’s technology uses resistors that are sensitive to different levels of pressure,” reports Nick Bilton and Brad Stone from the New York Times. “It has said its screens can distinguish between the touch of a finger and the pressure of a pen or similar pointing device.”

Apparently this technology is designed to work well with full-color LCD screens—you know, the ones that are basically featured on the iPad. This new merger would allow the Kindle to have display features like Apple’s iPad, with a full-color touchscreen for multimedia and entertainments purposes. This acquisition shows that Amazon is ready to break free from the basics of their E Ink Kindle screens and kick the e-reader up a notch.

According to the report, both companies have declined to comment on the merger and apparently Touchco stripped its Web site and YouTube page, only leaving the message “Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business” as evidence of its existence.

We’re expecting to see quite a bit more news trickle down the wire concerning this partnership. Hopefully Amazon isn’t copying Apple’s tight-lipped policies as well and will reveal some news for us to get excited about.

Image provided by the New York Times.

Showing 1 comment

Ian Bell at 11:49pm 3rd February 2010 This is what I love to hear. The iPad is cool, but it just didn't look or feel like an eReader, more like an entertainment machine, or larger iPhone like people are saying.

Personally, I want a small, thin and light eReader to take with me while traveling. It doesn't have to do much, but color would be nice, and Flash support so I can get some interactive features on the magazines or content I would read/watch. I don't want a game machine here....just a digital magazine. Is that too much to ask for?