As soon as reports of Apple acquiring 3D sensor company PrimeSense started coming out, many of us started speculating how Apple could incorporate its hands-free gesture technology in a future Television product. But Apple might have acquired PrimeSense to for something entirely different — Maps.
Former WSJ reporter Jessica Lessin reports:
PrimeSense’s technology is much more strategic for mapping, according to one person familiar with the company. In fact, companies like Matterport, which makes a camera for mapping three-dimensional spaces, use its chips.
We know Apple cares about mapping. The company bought WifiSLAM, an indoor GPS company, to help it map out malls and another indoor spaces in a race against Google, which is doing the same. Sooner rather than later, our phones will pull up scans of real spaces we want to visit or may be approaching. Those two-dimensional maps will seem very obsolete.
Here’s a video of Matterport’s indoor mapping product:
Indoor mapping would also benefit a lot from the recently added iBeacons, that enable phones to precisely find their location indoors, where GPS generally doesn’t work well.
The report adds that Apple continues to be interested in the television market, but as of now only in set-top boxes rather than a full-blown television. This is in line with previous reports that said Apple has pushed back its television ambitions to put more focus on wearables.
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