Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) has acquired Israeli camera technology developer LinX Imaging. The Zikhron Yaakov based company was founded in 2009 by CEO Ziv Attar and VP software Andrey Tovchigrechko. The company has raised several million dollars and shareholders include the founders and Shaul Attar, the father of Ziv.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” an Apple spokesman told the "Wall Street Journal." LinX Imaging itself declined to comment.
Sources close to the deal say that the two companies had been in talks for an acquisition price of about $20 million.
LinX develops and markets miniature multi-aperture cameras for tablets and smartphones, which use algorithms to produce 3D images. LinX's technology, according to the company, can help produce 3D models including for face identity.
LinX had previously been in advanced talks to sell the company to both LG and Samsung and had even launched a successful pilot project with the latter but no agreement was ever reached on embedding the cameras into Samsung's smartphones.
This is Apple's third Israeli acquisition. Apple bought flash memory developer Anobit for $390 million in 2012 and movement sensor developer PrimeSense for $300 million in 2013. The US company also took in 150 Texas Instruments employees in Ra'anana who were being laid off.
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Israel in February to inaugurate Apple Israel's new headquarters and development center in Herzliya Pituach.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 15, 2015
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