Apple is looking into purchasing Israeli tech firm PrimeSense, the company whose 3D sensor is responsible for Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. The price? $280 million, reportedly.
This is all according to a report from Israeli publication Cataclist . The report claims that Apple is looking to purchase the company to include the firm’s gesture-based technology in Apple’s product line-up. The two companies have already begun talks, the report goes on to claim.
Mashable reached out to PrimaSense for comment on the supposed buyout attempt, and received this in response: “We can’t comment on what any of our partners, customers or potential customers are doing and we’re not commenting on rumors.”
A report from TechCrunch , however, tells a different story. Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that the buyout was “BS” and came from “journalist[ic] delusion based on unverified and twisted hints.”
Apple buying out PrimaSense may not be in the cards, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of the tech giant licensing some of the firm’s technology; Microsoft currently licenses the company’s chips for use in its current-generation Kinect sensor.
If Apple really is considering getting into the world of gesture-based technology, they wouldn’t be the only ones. It was recently confirmed that Intel purchased another Israeli firm, Omek, who has been working on gesture-recognition technology of their own.
Although Microsoft failed to make waves with the original Kinect sensor, the company is looking to give it another go with the Xbox One’s upgraded Kinect sensor – dubbed Kinect 2.0. The updated motion peripheral boasts a higher resolution camera, which allows the sensor to detect minute details such as facial expressions.
That, and it can actually properly detect you when you’re sitting down this time.
Do you want to see some sort of gesture-recognition technology in your Apple device of choice, or does it just come off as an unnecessary gimmick to you?
