Amazon Buys Touchscreen Company for Its Kindle Division [REPORT]

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If this little rumor turns out to be true, then Amazon is probably preparing a response to the Apple iPad that was launched last week. The iPad doesn't add a whole lot of functionality that you don't get on a smartphone or a laptop, but the thing it does add is the iBooks application, which competes directly with Amazon's Kindle e-book reader by way of deals with publishers Penguin, Simon and Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillian and Hachette.

The startup — it's called Touchco — specializes in resistive touchscreen displays that display full color; they're not as precise and elegant as the capacitive tech used by the iPad, but they're much cheaper. Amazon will probably try to keep it's significant price advantage if it moves ahead with a touchscreen Kindle.