Apple acquired the Israeli startup RealFace, specialized in technologies of face recognition, according to financial website Calcalist. This transaction was another confirmation of the iPhone maker plans to improve the system of identification of users in the next generation of branded smartphones.
RealFace is a relatively young company, founded by specialists ADI Echos Barzilai Aviv and Madera. In 2014, she has developed software for facial recognition as an alternative to traditional passwords and fingerprint scanning.
In RealFace employs only 10 people. In the record is a startup mobile app called Pickeez, which allows you to automatically select from the smartphone gallery the best photos using image-recognition technology.
The deal with the acquisition of the RealFace is estimated at “several million dollars”, but not yet reported, then the developers will take the part of Apple. Prior to the transaction with a California Corporation, the startup raised approximately $1 million.
Currently, the web site RealFace stopped working, what always happens after the deal with Apple. But online you can find promotional materials of the company, of which it is obvious that the software developers based on artificial intelligence technologies. Latest for confident face detection even under difficult conditions (face with a mustache, beard or grimaces).
RealFace is not the first Israeli company that Apple acquired. In 2011, the American computer electronics giant bought the maker of super-fast flash memory Anobit for $500 million, and two years later was absorbed by PrimeSense that created the 3D sensor. The value of the last transaction valued at $345 million In 2015, Apple spent about $20 million for the purchase of smart cameras developed by LinX.
News about absorption RealFace came amid rumors that Apple is planning to abandon the fingerprint scanner Touch ID in a future iPhone in favor of the user identification by face. The acquisition of this company should be considered as another confirmation of it.
