In a few years’ time, every smartphone and laptop computer in the world will have eye-tracking technology if an innovative Swedish firm has its way

Tobii Leads With Eye-Tracking
By Vanesha Manuturi on 06:59 pm Mar 19, 2014
Stockholm. In a few years’ time, every smartphone and laptop computer in the world will have eye-tracking technology if an innovative Swedish firm has its way.

Founded by three Royal Swedish Institute researchers in 2001, Tobii is currently one of the world’s leading companies in eye-tracking technology.
For decades, researchers and other technology giants such as South Korea’s Samsung have been working on perfecting the technology.
The Seoul-based Samsung even included it in its latest Galaxy S4 device that was released last March.
Yet the Stockholm-based company prides itself in tackling the biggest challenge in eye-tracking technology: calibrating its near-infrared-based technology regardless of individual traits.
“Eye-tracking has been around, but the most difficult part was to track many people with a good accuracy, and also to make it simple for the users. I think that’s what makes us so successful,” Oskar Fajerson, the company’s vice president of sales in analysis solutions said when the Jakarta Globe visited Tobii’s headquarters in Stockholm.
Tobii’s sales primarily come from two areas: assistive technology and analysis.
Sales of assistive technology contributes 60 percent of Tobii’s revenue, while analysis make up between 35 percent to 37 percent, Fajerson said.
The remainder comes from the company’s miscellaneous services, such as licensing and hardware manufacturing.
Assistive technology helps those who have communication disabilities due to stroke or other diseases.
Devices are typically prescribed by an insurance company because of their high cost, according to Fredrik Ruben, the president of Tobii’s assistive technology unit.
For example, the Tobii’s I-series, which also includes a 24-hour battery life and a speech generator in addition to eye-tracking, costs approximately 10,000 euros or around Rp 157 million.
Tobii also offers slimmer versions of the I-series called the Tobii EyeMobile, which is can be docked on a Windows 8 tablet, and Tobii PCEye Go, which works through any standard laptop or desktop computer.
Tobii’s EyeMobile featuring Microsoft Surface currently costs $3,245 while its PCEye Go currently costs $1,995 according to the company’s website.
“One must say this equipment are rather expensive still, but I foresee that the price point will go down rapidly and this will be accessible to larger parts of the world,” Ruben said, adding that more demands and smaller technology would potentially narrow the cost in the future.
The company shipped 15,000 assistive technology units all over the world, including Indonesia, last year, although larger demand came from United States and European countries.
“The assistive technology came at an early stage at the company, realizing from the beginning that it’s not just about analyzing what you look at but also controlling what you look at,” Ruben said.
“Because it’s not just about communication — it’s also about freedom.”
Companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and China’s internet search engine Baidu, have used Tobii’s technology to track the behavior of their online visitors — such as, what online visitors see first and how long do surfers remain interested in advertisements.
The company is currently working on minimizing its near-infrared eye-tracking hardware to approximately the size of a pen.
“The ability to do it is months away. The caveat is making it affordable and feasible,” said Ruben.