Amazon might buy Touchco

A STORY at the New York Times claims that Amazon.com has invested in a maker of touchscreens.

The report says that the firm has bought Touchco, possibly in a bid to boost the features on its ebook reader, the Kindle, which although it has been a big seller so far will start to face some stiff competition from the Ipad and other tablet PCs. If anyone buys an Ipad that is.

In its last financial results released earlier this month, the firm said that it is readying a version of its reader for the Ipad, but it is looking increasingly likely that it will choose to up the features on its own device at the same time.

If the rumour is to be taken as fact, and if it wants to keep a firm hold on the ebook market, this move could be part of its cunning plan.

Touchco makes relatively cheap touchscreens that could provide multi-touch features to the Kindle, which so far hasn't had multi-touch. The purchase has not been officially announced by Amazon and a call to the UK press office has so far yielded no comment, not even a 'no comment'.

Meanwhile, a visit to Touchco's website shows us that the firm went out of business last month. "Thank you for your interest in Touchco. As of January 2010, the company is no longer doing business", reads a simple statement, which might be updated soon.

According to the New York Times the firm had six employees, all of whom will be taken in to the Amazon fold, specifically into its hardware division. µ