Apple is currently in talks to buy the Israeli company, PrimeSense, the developer of the original 3D body sensing technology used by Microsoft for its Kinect platform. Since the release of the Xbox One, Microsoft has turned to it’s own solution for the current iteration of the Kinect hardware and software. Back in July of the is year, MacRumors reported that Apple was looking at the company for a possible purchase, and had entered into early negotiations with PrimeSense.
As reported by AllThingsD, news sources expect the deal to be completed sometime this week, with the expected buy out price of around $250 million. So what will Apple do with this technology? There is lots of speculation of course. Everything from implementing it into the much rumored Apple television to using it in future wearable tech such as the “iWatch”. As we’ve seen in the past, we may not find out for years what Apple intends to do with it, and perhaps Apple itself isn’t quite sure yet. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen some of the fruit born from several of their acquisitions,
- Siri in 2010, first seen on the iPhone 4S
- Placebase in 2009, which eventually gave us Maps on iOS and recently in Mavericks
- P.A. Semi in 2008, which led to the development of the A4 chip introduced in the iPhone 4
Who knows what could develop?! Down the road a couple of years, we may find out or perhaps Apple just needed a new toy to play with. Either way, it’s fun to think about how Apple might use it to change the future.