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| AuthenTec |
Apple has announced that it will buy the fingerprint sensor
technology developer AuthenTec Inc for about $356 million. Tech
observers say that this could be Apple’s move venture in the emerging
mobile payments market.
Apple will pay AuthenTec $8 per share for the Florida-based
AuthenTec, which counts Samsung as one of its biggest clients.
AuthenTec makes fingerprint sensor chips used in PCs and mobile devices.
This acquisition is very unusual for Apple, as it rarely buys public
companies and tends to acquire mostly startups when the Cupertino-based
company searches for new, cutting-edge technology.
AuthenTec’s fingerprint technology is being used in mobile phones in
Japan as a means of authentication for mobile payments. Apple wishes to
bring that service to the United States, which has been pretty slow
when it comes to accepting new technology.
Tech analysts could not help but associate the acquisition with the next version of the iPhone. They say that the iPhone 5
could have some form of mobile payments technology. An Apple
spokesperson decline to comment on how the company will use AuthenTec’s
technology.
Source: Reuters
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