Metaio acquisition brings Apple's PrimeSense pickup into focus
Apple's heretofore puzzling buyout of Israeli sensor firm PrimeSense -- which created hardware designed to "see" in three dimensions -- now makes more sense in light of last week's acquisition of Metaio, a German software company specializing in augmented reality technology.
Apple snagged PrimeSense in late 2013 for $345 million, making it one of the largest deals in Apple's history. Until then, PrimeSense was known mostly for designing the first-generation Kinect for Microsoft.
Those trying to figure out what Apple might do with PrimeSense initially focused on Kinect-like applications. The consensus was that PrimeSense's technology would eventually make its way into the Apple TV, either to enable a new gaming use case or to replace the traditional remote control.
That could still be the case, but it seems that something more was brewing in Cupertino.
Last week, Apple acquired Metaio, a well-known name in the augmented reality space. Metaio's technology powers most of the popular AR applications in the market today --?Ikea's well-received virtual catalog, for instance, along with Audi's digital owner's manual and Ferrari's AR showroom app.
All of these applications work quite well in their current incarnations, but there are limitations to what AR can achieve when it's working with a flat plane. Depth can be inferred from images, of course, but more accurate three-dimensional mapping means more immersive AR.
As it happens, three-dimensional mapping was PrimeSense's reason for being.
Among other applications, PrimeSense technology was used by Qualcomm for early versions of its Vuforia AR platform and by iRobot for its Ava autonomous robot platform, which can navigate around new spaces independently.
One can fathom numerous uses for augmented reality at Apple --?AR maps and games immediately spring to mind, as do more esoteric uses, like a new method of filmmaking. Imagine doing away with chromakeying --?known colloquially as green screening --?in favor of a system that can intelligently differentiate between actors and background objects, and is only available for use with Final Cut.
Pelican Technology CEO Kartik Venkataraman predicted a similar use case for his company's light field technology --?which Apple is also exploring --?in 2013.
"Instagram applies filters to the whole scene, but this allows you to apply filters to different layers of the scene," Venkataraman said. "That gives the potential for creating much more interesting filters."
No matter what product eventually materializes, it seems a safe bet that Apple hasn't spent hundreds of millions of dollars just to let us navigate Netflix by waving our hand in the air.
Apple snagged PrimeSense in late 2013 for $345 million, making it one of the largest deals in Apple's history. Until then, PrimeSense was known mostly for designing the first-generation Kinect for Microsoft.
Those trying to figure out what Apple might do with PrimeSense initially focused on Kinect-like applications. The consensus was that PrimeSense's technology would eventually make its way into the Apple TV, either to enable a new gaming use case or to replace the traditional remote control.
That could still be the case, but it seems that something more was brewing in Cupertino.
Picking up both PrimeSense and Metaio indicates big augmented reality ambitions at Apple.
Last week, Apple acquired Metaio, a well-known name in the augmented reality space. Metaio's technology powers most of the popular AR applications in the market today --?Ikea's well-received virtual catalog, for instance, along with Audi's digital owner's manual and Ferrari's AR showroom app.
All of these applications work quite well in their current incarnations, but there are limitations to what AR can achieve when it's working with a flat plane. Depth can be inferred from images, of course, but more accurate three-dimensional mapping means more immersive AR.
As it happens, three-dimensional mapping was PrimeSense's reason for being.
Among other applications, PrimeSense technology was used by Qualcomm for early versions of its Vuforia AR platform and by iRobot for its Ava autonomous robot platform, which can navigate around new spaces independently.
One can fathom numerous uses for augmented reality at Apple --?AR maps and games immediately spring to mind, as do more esoteric uses, like a new method of filmmaking. Imagine doing away with chromakeying --?known colloquially as green screening --?in favor of a system that can intelligently differentiate between actors and background objects, and is only available for use with Final Cut.
Pelican Technology CEO Kartik Venkataraman predicted a similar use case for his company's light field technology --?which Apple is also exploring --?in 2013.
"Instagram applies filters to the whole scene, but this allows you to apply filters to different layers of the scene," Venkataraman said. "That gives the potential for creating much more interesting filters."
No matter what product eventually materializes, it seems a safe bet that Apple hasn't spent hundreds of millions of dollars just to let us navigate Netflix by waving our hand in the air.
Comments
An absolute gem for augmented reality and visual search technologies.
The synergy between Metaio and PrimeSense is obvious.
Very valuable for augmented reality maps, continuous search and 3D user interfaces.
Yes!
Also, the 3D filtering/layering of individuals and objects for video as an alternative to green screening and rotoscoping ... think of a photograph or video composed of manipulatable 3D objects -- after the fact. Lots of uses in sports, training, entertainment ,,,
The same techniques could ne used to analyze and manipulate 3D medical images!
I've wondered why the iPhone 6/6+ have the speaker and proximity sensor in the dead center and the front camera on the unbalanced left of center. My theory has been that the space on the right of the front speaker is being reserved for a PrimeSense sensor for the 6S/6S+. There is no other logical explanation for that design anomaly.
Or they didn't want to make the phone taller?
I mentioned this months ago(sorry had to say it). We were discussing how Apple could revolutionize cars.
Imagine Siri saying "Here is your destination" with a huge green arrow pointing down at a house.
Nintendo has invented %99 of everything you see in gaming so I'd hate it if this hurt them.
I don't care if the copycats go out of business though.
With apple vans, 3d sensors and Metaio maybe we will get a 3d version of street view.
The ground level images will be stitched together and integrated seamlessly into the FlyOver images. (Presumably using enhanced versions of the SAAB C3 Technologies stuff where Fly is replaced by Drive or Walk as in "Drive-Generate-View" as shown below.)
You will eventually be able to virtually visit anywhere in the world by FlyingOver, Landing on the street level, Browsing around you on the street, going inside various POIs and browsing around.
Get ready for some amazing stuff...
Incidentally, I noticed that Google has changed their in-browser desktop version of Google Earth (accessible in Google Maps) recently. There seems to be a remarkable instantaneous 3-D image synthesis going on there now, which can be seen as one orbits around a scene. Cars and objects appear and disappear as the perspective changes and different satellite imagery is used, possible in combination with ground level photography. It's quite something to see.
/s I wish!
of course there is. but unless you're an electrical engineer working on the iPhone, you're simply ignorant of what those reasons may be.