The company acquired Israeli PrimeSense, manufacturer of the original version of Kinect.
By Kostas Deligiannis
Apple has paved the way for the development of devices that will understand the user's gestures, announcing that it has acquired the Israeli company PrimeSense. With the official announcement, the American company essentially confirmed the news that was first revealed by the technology site AllThingsD, also verifying that the acquisition amount was $345 million.
Although Apple did not mention anything specific about the reasons for the acquisition, all estimates converge on the American company's intention to incorporate cameras that will "understand" the user's gestures into its future products.
Moreover, the development of such cameras is the main activity of PrimeSense. The Israeli company manufactured the first Kinect for the Xbox 360 game console, a peripheral that, thanks to a camera and a 3D environment scanning system, could recognize the bodies of up to two users in space, in order to "transfer" their movements to the respective video game. At the same time, PrimeSense's technology allowed the user to operate the Xbox with gestures, so that, for example, to choose which movie to watch.
To date, the Israeli company has developed a version of the camera that is small enough to be integrated into computers, mobile phones and tablets. Many analysts believe that Apple intends to offer gesture support in future Macs, iPhones and iPads.
Other experts say the acquisition is part of Apple's plan to release its first television. With a built-in PrimeSense camera, operating such a TV would become much more natural and easy.
Source: portal.kathimerini.gr
