Amazon announced this morning that it had acquired text-to-speech software developer IVONA, the company who developed the Kindle Fire's Text-to-Speech, Voice Guide and Explore by Touch features.

Ivona's software holdings are not limited to Android based devices. The company delivers text-to-speech products and services for thousands of developers, businesses and customers around the world. This could be the beginning of a true competitor for Apple's Siri, or even Google's Voice Search.

"IVONA's exceptional text-to-speech technology leads the industry in natural voice quality, accuracy and ease of use. IVONA is already instrumental in helping us deliver excellent accessibility features on Kindle Fire, including Text-to-Speech, Voice Guide and Explore by Touch," said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "The IVONA team shares our passion for innovation and customer obsession, and we look forward to building great products to deliver world-class voice solutions to customers around the world."