Hasta La Gadget!

The other day we reported that Apple had confirmed that they had just closed a deal with Israeli-based tech company, PrimeSense, which saw Apple acquire the company for anywhere between $300-$350 million. It had been rumored that due to PrimeSense’s early involvement with the Microsoft Kinect sensor, at least the first-generation, that Apple could be looking at using the motion detecting technology and incorporate it into the company’s rumored iTV. However while that might be a possibility, new information has surfaced that has suggested Apple’s interest in PrimeSense might not necessarily be TV-related.

According to Jessica Lessin, her sources have informed her that PrimeSense’s motion-sensing technology is actually considered to be “a little bit behind” and that Microsoft does not actually use it in its Kinect. However what PrimeSense’s technology is more adept at doing is mapping, where companies such as Matterport uses its chips in its cameras for mapping three-dimensional spaces. When Apple first launched their Maps app, it was considered to be something of a disaster and there were numerous complaints about how it was inaccurate and how it lacked features when compared to the likes of Google Maps.

With this new information and if accurate, it looks like Apple is definitely taking its Maps development seriously and we could start seeing more features and functionality coming to the app in the future.

Apple’s PrimeSense Acquisition Could Be Used To Improve Maps original content from Ubergizmo.

For those unfamiliar, PrimeSense is an Israeli tech company who had initially worked with Microsoft on developing the Kinect sensor. The technology has since been brought into Microsoft’s own in-house team, which means that PrimeSense is no longer in the picture, but given that they were responsible for starting it off, they are still pretty valuable. We had reported that Apple was interested and might have bought the company for $345 million, and as it turns out the rumors were right as the deal has since been closed, as confirmed by Apple to the folks at AllThingsD.

While the official price of the acquisition was not revealed, it is estimated to be around $300-$350 million after rather lengthy negotiations between PrimeSense and other companies as it seems that other companies, not just Apple, were interested in acquiring them. At this point in time it is unclear as to what Apple might want to do with PrimeSense and their technology, but presumably 3D gestures are involved. We had heard the possibility that such technology could be making its way into the rumored “iTV” in the future. Either way we’ll be keeping an eye out for more details, so stay tuned!

Apple Confirms PrimeSense Acquisition original content from Ubergizmo.

With the launch of iOS 7, Apple has toyed with the idea of their Apple devices being able to track your position in relation to the device to offer some pretty interesting experiences within the software. Even though some people reportedly experienced motion sickness as a result, it’s still interesting to see the route Apple may be taking its iOS devices, and today’s alleged acquisition may make things even more interesting. (more…)

Apple Reportedly Buys Kinect-Tech Creator PrimeSense For $345 Million original content from Ubergizmo.

PrimeSense is a company based in Israel that provides the technology for Microsoft’s infamous Kinect sensor. Apparently Apple has bought it for as much as $345 million, according to the Calcalist financial newspaper which doesn’t cite any sources in its report. PrimeSense’s technology is most commonly known for being used in the Kinect sensor that was initially released for the Xbox 360. Its 3D machine vision technology is also used in 3D scanners like the Asus Xtion.

If the report is true, this would be the second Israeli based company that Apple has acquired in nearly two years. Back in 2012, Apple acquired Israeli flash storage chip manufacturer Anobit. PrimeSense hasn’t confirmed that it has been acquired by Apple, instead a spokeswoman for the company tells Reuters that the company does not comment on what its “partners, customers or potential customers are doing.” She also says that the company does not relate to “rumors or recycled rumors.” The recylced rumors bit is interesting because this isn’t exactly the first time that Apple is believed to be interested in PrimeSense. It was rumored back in July that Apple was in talks with PrimeSense for a possible acquisition and that Cupertino was valuing the company around $280-$300 million.

Apple Might Have Bought The Company Behind Kinect’s Technology original content from Ubergizmo.

Yet more exits for Israeli startups, with the latest two developments a throwback to the hardware and engineering muscle that raised the tech profile of the region in the first place, before the Waze’s of the world got us thinking about Israel as a hotbed of consumer internet companies.

Today, reports leaked out, and we have now confirmed, that Intel has acquired Omek Interactive, a company it had already invested in that makes technology for gesture-based interfaces. At the same time, Israel publication the Calcalist is reporting that Apple is circling around PrimeSense, another developer of gesture-based technology that has been used in Microsoft’s Kinect. Together, the moves could be a sign that gesture-based controls such as those in Microsoft’s Kinect may become even more prevalent.

The Apple/PrimeSense talk, however, appears to be too early, if not altogether inaccurate. The Calcalist’s report notes that this is based around some meetings between the two companies, and that the price for the deal would be around $280 million. But a source at the company described the report as “BS.”

This is “journalist delusion based on unverified and twisted hints,” the source added, also questioning the valuation: “280M? Come on! We’re worth 10 times that. ” Up to now, PrimeSense has raised nearly $30 million from investors that include Gemini Israel Funds, Canaan Partners, Genesis Partners and Silver Lake Partners and bills itself as “giving digital devices the gift of sight.”

Meanwhile, we have contacted Omek, where the person we tracked down on the phone giggled (yes) and then referred us to Intel for any questions.

We have yet to hear back from Intel or investing arm Intel Capital. A post on Harretz notes the deal actually concluded last week. Haaretz has also managed to get a confirmation directly from Intel: “The acquisition of Omek Interactive will help increase Intel’s capabilities in the delivery of more immersive perceptual computing experiences,” the statement says.
Update: Intel has confirmed to me that the transaction has closed. In addition to the same statement it gave Haaretz, an Intel spokesperson added it’s not confirming the value of the deal, and “we are also not disclosing the timelines on future products that integrate this technology.”

The reported value of Intel’s deal for Omek is between $30 million and $50 million. Without actually hearing from Intel on the details, for now there appears to be a few lines of thinking behind why Intel is going beyond being simply a strategic investor. (Omek has raised $13.8 million to date, with $7 million of that coming from Intel Capital.)

The first of these — as explained in a story in VentureBeat, which first reported talks between the two in March of this year — is that Omek may have been in the market to raise more money and that it chose the exit route instead of going it alone.

Another is that Intel wants the technology as part of its bigger moves into 3D visualization and “perceptual computing”, Intel’s catch-all term for gesture, touch, voice, and other AI-style sensory technologies. This is also the subject of a $100 million investment fund Intel launched in April.

And a third is more mundane and cynical, and potentially true regardless of Intel’s wider, more airy ambitions. The blog GeekTime suggests that this is a hardware play: Intel wants Omek for technology that it can embed into chips. The more functionality it can add that will drive new purchases of those chips by device makers, the better:

“The search for worthy power eating technologies to justify the need for yearly chip version upgrades is an integral part of the hardware industries market management strategy,” it writes. “Device companies must be convinced of the need to design their products to support the more expensive vanguard models of the processing world, placing the need for innovation above price point, and even quality in some cases.”

Whether or not the PrimeSense news is accurate, 9to5Mac makes a convincing argument for how the startup’s intellectual property could fit in with other IP at Apple already; and with Apple’s bigger ambitions to develop products that take it further into the living room, specifically with Apple TV.

And that, in the end, seems to be the crux of today’s news as well. However you cut it, and whoever ends up controlling it (in the tech sense), gesture is increasingly coming into focus and will let us get machines to do our bidding with the wave of a hand, or finger, soon.