Apple reportedly buys PrimeSense, Israeli company behind Xbox’s Kinect, for $345M

November 18, 2013 Leave a comment

Apple reportedly buys Israeli company behind Xbox’s Kinect

The appeal for Apple is the company’s advanced body-movement tracking technology that was originally used for the Xbox 360, a popular gaming device.

By Haaretz and Reuters | Nov. 17, 2013 | 2:04 PM

Israeli news and financial newspaper Calcalist reported Sunday that Apple has acquired PrimeSense, a motion-tracking company based in Tel Aviv, in a $345 million deal. PrimeSense is best known for licensing the hardware design and chip used in Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing system for the Xbox 360 from 2010.The Israeli 3D sensing company with offices in Israel, North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Chinatown and Taiwan, provides products in the area of sensory inputs for consumer and commercial markets.

PrimeSense’s main appeal to Apple is its advanced body-movement tracking technology, a report by technology website Slashgear said, adding that one of its newer implementations, Capri, has the potential to be used in future iPhone and iPad versions.

A rumor, based on the report by Slashgear, is that Apple intends to use the PrimeSense technology for a television project that would use a streaming smart TV system using gestures rather than a remote.

Another speculation is that PrimeSense’s sensor system could be used In Apple’s smartwatch project (unofficially called the iWatch), Slashgear said.

According to Calcalist, PrimeSense has raised $85 million from Israeli and U.S. venture capital funds such as Canaan Partners Global, Gemini Israel and Genesis Partners.

“We are focused on building a prosperous company while bringing 3D sensing and natural interaction to the mass market in a variety of markets such as interactive living room and mobile devices,” a spokeswoman for PrimeSense said. “We do not comment on what any of our partners, customers or potential customers are doing and we do not relate to rumours or recycled rumours.”

The acquisition of PrimeSense would be Apple’s second purchase of an Israeli company. It bought flash storage chip maker Anobit in January 2012.

Apple buys Israel’s PrimeSense for $345 million: report

Sun, Nov 17 2013

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Apple has bought PrimeSense, an Israeli maker of chips that enable three-dimensional (3D) machine vision, for $345 million, the Calcalist financial newspaper reported on Sunday without citing sources.

PrimeSense has raised $85 million from Israeli and U.S. venture capital funds such as Canaan Partners Global, Gemini Israel and Genesis Partners, Calcalist said.

“We are focused on building a prosperous company while bringing 3D sensing and natural interaction to the mass market in a variety of markets such as interactive living room and mobile devices,” a spokeswoman for PrimeSense said. “We do not comment on what any of our partners, customers or potential customers are doing and we do not relate to rumors or recycled rumors.”

PrimeSense’s sensing technology, which gives digital devices the ability to observe a scene in three dimensions, was used to help power Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect.

The acquisition of PrimeSense would be Apple’s second purchase of an Israeli company. It bought flash storage chip maker Anobit in January 2012.

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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