Amazon is not specifically named in the filling (pictured at bottom of page) but it does note a “merger agreement” between Yap and another company headquartered in an Amazon-owned building, according say reports.  The purchase of the company, called Yap, took place in September but was not made public until noticed by US website The Atlantic via a financial filling.

The strategy behind the acquisition remains unclear but reports suggest that Amazon intends to introduce speech recognition services, similar to Apple’s Siri, on its Kindle range in future.

Yesterday, Amazon revealed that popular apps, such as Angry Birds and Facebook, will be among several thousand available via its app store when the Kindle Fire tablet debuts next week.

The Kindle Fire, featuring the Amazon App Store for Android, will debut in the US and let users download apps and pay for them via their existing Amazon account.

Once an app is downloaded via the outlet, it will be available on a user’s Kindle Fire and other Android devices they may own, according to Amazon.

In a statement detailing the launch, Dave Limp, Amazon Kindle VP, said, “In addition to over 18m movies, TV shows, songs, books, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games. This is only the beginning – we’re adding more apps and games every day across all categories.”

Other high-profile apps to be available at launch include Netflix, Twitter and games from Zynga and Electronic Arts.

The timing of the UK Kindle Fire launch has yet to be confirmed but it will retail for $199 in the US and will be supported by Amazon’s Web Services Cloud.

Kindle Fire owners will also be entitled to a month’s free access to Amazon Prime, which provides access to streaming service Prime Instant Video and Lending Library, where Kindle owners can choose from thousands of books to borrow free of charge.