The New York Times‘s Nick Bilton and Brad Stone report the acquisition by Amazon of Touchco, a tiny New York startup that makes touchscreens boasting features superior to and cheaper than rivals including Apple’s iPad.

“Unlike those screens,”the Times reporters say, Touchco screens can “detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.” They add that “Touchco’s technology uses resistors that are sensitive to different levels of pressure. It has said its screens can distinguish between the touch of a finger and the pressure of a pen or similar pointing device.”

Perhaps the most interesting aspect is full color, vital if you’re going to go head to head with Apple. They cite a financial expert as saying that “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.”

Amazon will shift development from New York to its labs in Cupertino, California. Hmm. Where have we heard Cupertino before?

Details of the Touchco acquisition here.

RC

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by the New York Times.