Microsoft to acquire California-based start-up Canesta

Microsoft has flexed their financial muscles yet again, and will be looking to bring Canesta from California into their fold. Why so, you ask? Well, Canesta is a leader in 3D sensing technology for starters, owning 44 patents which represent the company’s breakthroughs in many areas which are critical to enabling natural user interfaces (NUIs), with Microsoft’s own Kinect for example, across multiple platforms. This acquisition would see both Canesta’s products and technology to enter Microsoft’s fold, where the single chip CMOS 3D sensors and imaging chips can enable fine-grained, three-dimensional depth-perception in a wide range of applications. How will this shape up in Microsoft’s future NUIs for both its Kinect and future operating system otherwise known as Windows 8? Only time will tell, and will Canesta employees receive free Windows Phone 7 handsets also?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: 3D, acquisition, business, Microsoft