Confirmed: Apple buys 3-D tech company PrimeSense
Apple could be getting into the 3-D sensor game.聽
Following rumors last week that guessed Apple had bought Israeli 3-D tech company PrimeSense, Apple and PrimeSense both confirmed the sale, though the price and reasoning behind the move is yet to be officially revealed.
, Apple confirmed Sunday that it had bought PrimeSense, the company behind Microsoft's聽Kinect sensor device, only offering, 鈥淎pple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans鈥� as an explanation. A spokewoman for PrimeSense followed up with a similar response: 鈥淲e can confirm the deal with Apple. Further than that, we cannot comment at this stage.鈥�
Talks of the deal were first reported by in July, corroborated Sunday by Globes, another . These sources claimed the sale was made for about $350 million, though neither company confirmed the price. If true, this would mean each of the five start-up founders would make $50 million to $85 million from the sale.
Though Apple and PrimeSense are mum on the deal, rumors and speculation of what this could mean for the iPhone-maker have been swirling for days.
AllThingsD adds that PrimeSense has developed more compact and device-specific software, which could point to applications for mobile devices. In October 2011, Apple filed a patent for 鈥淩eal Time Video Process Control Using Gestures,鈥� which could 鈥渢hrow鈥� content from device to device, . out that adding 3-D technology could be a key feature in the long-rumored Apple iTV set.
This isn鈥檛 the first Israeli tech acquisition lately either 鈥撀� flash memory controller maker Anobot last year for more than $500 million, and Google bought for a reported $1.1 billion. This lines up with the recent start-up boom in the Middle East, specifically Israel where the 聽that of the 70 Israeli companies listed in the Nasdaq, more than a third are technology companies.
Microsoft now uses in-house 3-D technology for the Kinect device, but that hasn鈥檛 damped PrimeSense鈥檚 reach. The company鈥檚 products are in more than 24 million devices worldwide. Looks like 3-D technology, no matter in whose hands, is on the horizon.
