Jefferies says Apple may have licensed JDSU's 'body gesture' sensors for next Apple TV

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Equity research firm Jefferies on Friday raised its price target on shares of Apple to $900, saying it believes both the company's much rumored iPad mini and next-generation Apple TV device are in 'full production,' with the latter product potentially utilizing a new 'gesture control module' brought in through a third-party licensing agreement.

In a research note to clients, analyst Peter Misek said recent checks with Apple product manufacturer Foxconn indicate the company plans to build 25 million new iPads during the current third calendar quarter and another 30 million for the fourth quarter ending December.

Those figures, coupled with an uncharacteristic 5% monthly jump in Foxconn's revenues for the month of July, raise Misek's confidence that the ramp up of the company's much-rumored 7-inch iPad mini accounts for the spike in production, which in both cases is more than 50% greater than the analyst's current estimates of 16 million and 18 million for the two quarters, respectively.

Separately, Misek said that recent data out of Sharp, Hon Hai, and other specialty chemical and TV component suppliers support his belief that the company's next television-oriented product is also in "full production," a surprising claim given that the Wall Street Journal report just days ago that company had yet to reach licensing agreements with any cable operator over the product that it reportedly hopes to market as a cable box alternative.

Misek also believes that a recent revelation by JDSU that it has acquired a new new non-gaming customer for its gesture control modules may signal a partnership with Apple as part of the product.
They indicated this is a new "living room" based customer. We believe Apple will leverage AT&T's and Verizon's content deals for the iTV.
JDSU, or JDS Uniphase Corporation, designs and manufactures products for optical communications networks, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics.

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Last month the Milpitas, Calif.-based company said it was ready to offer partners optical technology for gesture recognition systems that let a person control technology with natural body gestures instead of using a remote, mouse or other device:
JDSU near-infrared light source technology and optical coatings are integrated into gesture recognition platforms, such as a 3D sensor or set top box, to detect and extract external information from a person?s movements. The information is then mapped into a 3D image, and incorporated into the system so that a person can easily manipulate an application.

Examples include a gamer?s movements being tracked and translated within a video game, or a person in a living room using a hand gesture in front of TV to pull up a movie or a web site.
Interest on Apple's part to replace traditional input mechanisms like the television remote and computer mouse with gesture and motion sensors dates back more than three years to patent filings for a Nintendo Wii-like magic wand controller and body motion tracking in Mac OS X. However, friday's report of a potential licensing deal with JDSU for its body motion sensors appears to be the first indication that Apple could choose to outsource such technology for its living room initiative.

"We expect either the iPad Mini to launch in CQ4 with the iTV either launching in CQ4 or CQ1," Misek told clients.

Shares of Apple rose nearly $7, or roughly 1%, in early morning trading to a new all-time high of $644.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    My suspicion is Apple will end up defining this technology and leave Microsoft's System as a toy by comparison. This seriously looks like a company Apple should buy. Mkt. Cap JDSU around 3 $B.
  • Reply 2 of 47



    Originally posted by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


    For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.


  • Reply 3 of 47
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member

    And all that was typed on a Mac Plus /grin
  • Reply 4 of 47

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post



    My suspicion is Apple will end up defining this technology and leave Microsoft's System as a toy by comparison. This seriously looks like a company Apple should buy. Mkt. Cap JDSU around 3 $B.




    I wonder if Apple regrets not buying the company behind Kinect (or adopting the tech) when they were approached before MS.

  • Reply 5 of 47
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    originalg wrote: »

    I wonder if Apple regrets not buying the company behind Kinect (or adopting the tech) when they were approached before MS.

    Actually I think this explains why they didn't. I have a feeling JDSU are miles ahead of Kinect. I will have to read more but that's my initial feeling.
  • Reply 6 of 47
    bosoxbosox Posts: 20member


    $900 share price??? Have they been smoking Gene Munster's Piper pipe? Oh wait... I took a few hits off Gene's hookah over the years and my shares are worth $640 this morning. 

  • Reply 7 of 47
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    bosox wrote: »
    $900 share price??? Have they been smoking Gene Munster's Piper pipe? Oh wait... I took a few hits off Gene's hookah over the years and my shares are worth $640 this morning. 

    Yep, he isn't wrong in numbers, who knows about the timing though. It's funny really. Having held stock since it was $30 I have had to read the exact same type of comment at every barrier along the way. 'OMG ... It can't go over 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 ... ' and here we are are 640. Sure it will dip and climb again but I'm holding on and look forward to 1000.
  • Reply 8 of 47
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member


    video feels very "old" considering kinect has been in living rooms for over a year.


     


    the problem with the tech demonstrated is that no one wants to change a channel by waving their hands. that's way too many calories burned just to channel surf and i'm not being facetious.


     


    we have been able to cruise through hundreds of channels quickly with finger pushes for decades. apple tv will not fly unless there are very good (simple) voice commands or this tech can see the detail of my finger changing the remote clicker.

  • Reply 9 of 47
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    This article must make British TV producer ITV crazy.

    Skil, I'm with you in this. I just can't see jumping up and down and waving my hands around in the air to get my TV to do what I want. Or talking to it for that matter.

    It just strikes me we might be going the wrong direction with technology ...

    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/10621/width/350/height/700[/IMG]
  • Reply 10 of 47
    ivladivlad Posts: 742member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wigby View Post


    video feels very "old" considering kinect has been in living rooms for over a year.


     


    the problem with the tech demonstrated is that no one wants to change a channel by waving their hands. that's way too many calories burned just to channel surf and i'm not being facetious.


     


    we have been able to cruise through hundreds of channels quickly with finger pushes for decades. apple tv will not fly unless there are very good (simple) voice commands or this tech can see the detail of my finger changing the remote clicker.



    HAHA! That's why generation like yours are being left behind for such narrow thinking. Current younger and future generations will forget what "buttons" are. 

  • Reply 11 of 47
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    ivlad wrote: »
    HAHA! That's why generation like yours are being left behind for such narrow thinking. Current younger and future generations will forget what "buttons" are. 

    We're going backwards when the older generation had to get up to change the channel, they didn't know what buttons were either. The remote control was invented so we wouldn't have to "get up in front of the TV". I'm on my feet most of the day, when I get home and turn the TV on I don't want to get up to do so and look like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.


    700
  • Reply 12 of 47
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member


    yeah waving ones hands around while watching TV is the next new fad that everyone is going to jump on. I sorry is one of those technologies which look very interesting and people get a kick out of giving it a try, however it is totally impractical in every day use. Yeah the whole Wii and xBox motion is fun, but I do not think people will want to wave their hands around just to change the channel.

  • Reply 13 of 47
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    My suspicion is Apple will end up defining this technology and leave Microsoft's System as a toy by comparison. This seriously looks like a company Apple should buy. Mkt. Cap JDSU around 3 $B.

    They only licensed it, JDSU will be the one defining the tech and licensing it to others if Apple or anyone else doesn't buy them.
  • Reply 14 of 47


    But if your TV recognized your position in the room (on the chair or couch facing the television), your identity (face), the time of day and your previous watching habits, then it might just turn on your favorite show for you with 2nd and 3rd choices available, and remember your volume preferences.


     


    When you get up to exit the room, it might ask if you'd like to pause/record what you're watching or turn itself off.


     


    Which.... might be nice.

  • Reply 15 of 47
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Third party company dropping vague hints that could be Apple to perhaps raise their own value a bit? Not impossible

    Conflict between reports about 'tv', likely someone if not both are wrong

    My thoughts.

    Apple is not making a tv. Isn't thinking about ever making one. They are revamping the display line up for more sizes etc including putting in hdmi so it could be used as a tv with a BluRay player etc.

    This tech if it is being looked at is for identify body placement to adjust focus for better viewing and if you are using it as a computer monitor for FaceTime quality.

    I highly doubt that Apple is doing anything to make the stb a cable box or to make a separate one. They have their store, they will leverage to make that the choice over cable.
  • Reply 16 of 47


    Good news. I thought the only way for Apple to get body gestures is to get a license from Microsoft's kinect which they keep resist licensing them.


    Also, PrimeSense which is the one behind Kinect approached Apple before Microsoft. 


    http://www.cultofmac.com/67951/how-apple-almost-got-microsofts-kinect-game-controller/

  • Reply 17 of 47
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    notscott wrote: »
    But if your TV recognized your position in the room (on the chair or couch facing the television), your identity (face), the time of day and your previous watching habits, then it might just turn on your favorite show for you with 2nd and 3rd choices available, and remember your volume preferences.

    When you get up to exit the room, it might ask if you'd like to pause/record what you're watching or turn itself off.

    Which.... might be nice.

    Might be nice? That would be pretty darn good, but the joy of watching TV is finding that new show sometimes. I recently found Wicked Tuna by channel surfing and was amazed at how big tuna fish can get, what it takes to reel them in, and how much money they're worth.
  • Reply 18 of 47
    boeyc15boeyc15 Posts: 986member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Maestro64 View Post


    yeah waving ones hands around while watching TV is the next new fad that everyone is going to jump on. I sorry is one of those technologies which look very interesting and people get a kick out of giving it a try, however it is totally impractical in every day use. Yeah the whole Wii and xBox motion is fun, but I do not think people will want to wave their hands around just to change the channel.



    Agree, even Siri(which I like and use) has limitations for control.... In the end we still need buttons and dials. Notice the new Lexus(?) commercial touting the touch screen? Touch screens are awfull while driving. Am I suppose to stop then select what I want? But buttons have 'feel'. I can feel were the sound button is, where the station select button is etc. Aircraft cockpits are generally designed the same way. Each knob for a system is unique. There use to be a engineering discipline called 'human factors'... seems to have gone away... end of rant pineing for the goodoldays.


     


    Signed nostalgically,


     


    I. M. Luddite

  • Reply 19 of 47
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by iVlad View Post


    HAHA! That's why generation like yours are being left behind for such narrow thinking. Current younger and future generations will forget what "buttons" are. 



    Probably not. Buttons are very useful because many of them provide tactile feed back. For the same reason that many of the more useful tools mankind has invented are related to size and shape of our physical hands, so are buttons, rotary dials, slider controls, etc. This is especially true for use in cars, bikes, and motorcycles and other machinery where you don't necessarily want to look at the control you are adjusting. Waving your hand in the air is never going to be as precise as a dedicated physical control in the same way that a touch interface is not as precise as a mouse, keyboard input. Some gesture based interfaces might eventually become more convenient but certainly not all.

  • Reply 20 of 47
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by OriginalG View Post




    I wonder if Apple regrets not buying the company behind Kinect (or adopting the tech) when they were approached before MS.



     


    Not likely.  Kinect is nothing compared to Leap and I'm sure there are other better gesture thingies in the works.  


     


    If this purported TV was just going to use Kinect type technology I would call it a stupid gimmick and an almost certain failure.  One would need something of the level of Leap to make this sort of thing even begin to be useful or possible for a TV set.  


     


    Completely unrelated:  Am I the only one that gets bugged by the mis-spelling of "Kinect"? (should be "Kinnect")  

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