UPDATED 18:45 EDT / JULY 25 2011

NEWS

Qualcomm Invests in Gesture-Recognition Tech with GestureTek Deal

Mobile chipmaker Qualcomm acquired some of the assets of GestureTek, a privately held company that develops gesture-recognition technology for smartphones, Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but we do know Qualcomm did not acquire GestureTek’s public displays and digital signage divisions.

“The plan is to add GestureTek’s technology to future versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors for smartphones,” Steve Mollenkopf, a Qualcomm executive vice president, said in a statement.

The emphasis seems to be on gaming, considering how useful this sort of technology can be in this field. After all, users are interested in the simplest possible controls when working with a small screen–something the iPhone successfully capitalizes. Another gaming push by Qualcomm is the deal it struck with GameLoft to promote some of its mobile titles on Snapdragon devices.

The company putting effort into more than just gaming–it also needs to keep investors happy. Nokia and Sony, two of Qualcomm’s main customers, are seeing weakening sales which in turn affect the chipmaker’s revenue. Its shares dropped nearly 3 percent after analyst Tim Long cut his rating because of this around the same time the GameLoft agreement was announced.

Qualcomm plans on delivering value to investors via a number of means, mainly by making itself more relevant to the market with new products. Alongside a $3 million investment in Q&A service ChaCha, the chipmaker is stepping it up with Krait, the latest upcoming member of the Snapdragon family. The company says that at 2.5GHz , it will deliver  150 percent higher  performance than the industry average.

Another high-profile move Qualcomm made to try and strengthen its position in the market is the $3.2 billion acquisition of chipmaker Atheros Communications, that specializes in Bluetooth and GPS products.

[Image credit: REUTERS/Mike Blake]


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