Apple Looking In To Buying PrimeSense, Company Behind Microsoft Kinect Technology

PrimeSense, an Israeli company that developed the 3D body sensor technology behind Kinect, is reportedly in talks with Apple over an acquisition which could see Apple cough up around $280 million. Calcalist reports that a group of representatives from PrimeSense recently visited Apple’s engineering offices to discuss the deal.

“You are the controller” a fabulous marketing slogan used by Microsoft to epitomize what its Kinect controller does. If you’d have told me when I was a kid that I’d be able to control my console using nothing but my own body movements, I’d never have believed you.

And yet, Microsoft made it publicly available for its Xbox games console. And Apple’s looking in to buying the company that developed the technology used by Microsoft in its early developments stages.

How Apple would use this technology is up for debate, but it has long been rumored that the company is involved and heavily invested in developing the next big thing for the living room.

Dubbed the ‘iTV’ it’s expected that if Cupertino does eventually launch its own TV set, that it’ll be much more than a regular HDTV or even Smart TV. Part of its control system would surely be motion detection used to enable users to control the telly with gestures.

There’s also the rumor recently stating that the Tim Cook & Co. have patented and are developing their own motion gesture control-based interfaces for Macs.

Whatever the reason, if the deal does go through it’s unlikely we’ll see any evidence of it for some time. If you remember, Apple purchased fingerprint sensor experts AuthenTec almost a year back and we’re yet to see a fingerprint scanner make its way to an iPhone or iPad. We’ve heard plenty of rumors that it will be on the next iPhone, but there’s been no physical evidence so far.

Keep your eyes peeled for further developments. This could get very interesting. Is Apple set to make Minority Report reality?