Apple Considers Acquisition of PrimeSense Machine Vision Company, Technology Powering Xbox Kinect

Apple finds itself in a curious position these days. The Cupertino company often posts record revenues and profits, but at the same time, it's seeing increased competition from the Android camp, and especially Samsung. This, in turn, has investors on edge, so it's not unusual to see Apple's share price drop after a positive quarterly financial report. For this reason, Apple has to be on top of its game and continue to innovate.

We bring this up because the Cupertino company is reportedly in early negotiations to acquire PrimeSense, an Israel-based 3D sensing company with offices in Israel, North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China, and Taiwan. PrimeSense is a fabless semiconductor company that's best known for licensing the hardware design and chip used in Microsoft's first generation Kinect motion control sensor for the Xbox 360.

Apple Store

It's an interesting target for Apple, which is said to be offering $280 million for the chip developer. There are a world of possibilities for this type of technology. Apple could integrate motion control technology into its mobile devices and/or its upcoming iWatch, or this could be an early sign of a standout feature that will ultimately find its way into an Apple brand smart TV.

Of course, this is all speculation at this point, though it's fun to imagine the possibilities.