an Francisco — Amazon appears to be making strides towards making the Kindle a little more touchy — now that Apple’s iPad is official and being hailed as a “Kindle Killer”. Amazon has reportedly acquired a small New York startup called Touchco, a leading touch-screen innovator amid rumors that it is developing a new Kindle that will rival the Apple iPad, according to a report in The New York Times that cites a person briefed on the deal as a source.
Although the Apple, Inc.’s iPad is not yet available to purchase, Amazon is under pressure to maintain its e-book market and the Kindle suddenly looks old school, with its black-and-white display and its button-pushing page turning functionality. An analyst quoted as saying that touch could make the Kindle’s existing E Ink screen harder to read.
Amazon’s reported purchase of Touchco could help freshen up the Kindle, bringing touchscreen capabilities and perhaps more. Amazon plans to incorporate Touchco’s technology and staff into its Kindle hardware division, the New York Times reported, quoting a person briefed on the deal. Amazon on Thursday declined to discuss the report.
“We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” Amazon spokesperson Mary Osako, said in a statement.
Touchco was unavailable for comment. Its Web site contains only a single page that reads, “Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business.”
The move comes as the Kindle encounters increased competition both from other dedicated reading devices such as the Sony Reader and multi-purpose tablets like Apple’s forthcoming iPad — all of which offer a touch-screen interface.
According to some analysts who are disbelieving that the Kindle can avoid being swamped by the iPad wave.
“As always, it depends on what else they add,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “Adding touch to the existing Kindle seems gratuitous and actually can work against E Ink legibility.”
Based on what is known about Touchco’s technology, its consolidation into the Kindle, will enhance it in several ways. Touchco’s technology responds to various levels of pressure, as opposed to requiring contact with skin like Apple’s iPhone.
While the iPhone’s touch sensitivity can reckon up to five fingers at once, Touchco’s interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology supports unlimited simultaneous touch inputs, the Times said.
The New York Times reported Thursday that while the $499 price for the iPad’s basic model is just about double the Kindle’s $259, it was set lower than the expected $700 to contend with the e-reader. In addition, the technology is made for color displays, is low power, and is inexpensive, costing as little as $10 a square foot.
The terms of the deal have yet to be revealed, and spokesmen for Amazon and Touchco have denied to confirm the New York Times report of an agreement between the two companies.
Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Lazard Capital, told the New York Times that the acquisition of Touchco would help Amazon to expand the functionality of the Kindle beyond simply being an ebook reader platform.
“If touch screens were added to the Kindle or other Amazon devices, it would bring them up to date with the plethora of other screens consumers are becoming used to,” he said. “Any device is at a disadvantage if it does not offer it.”