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Apple has snapped up AuthenTec, a Delaware-based company that specializes in security systems such as fingerprint scanners.
So what does Apple want with AuthenTec? Are we about to see fingerprint scanners embedded in all our MacBooks? My guess is not so much on that front. But AuthenTec makes security-related products for other platforms, too. For example, the company has helped develop a system for Android devices where a fingerprint scanner is used in conjunction with mobile wallet functionality, as a way to secure payments.
Apple does tend to acquire small companies from time to time, usually in areas that it wants to control. For example, the company acquired a number of mapping firms that formed the basis of its iOS 6 mapping technology, bought up chip-maker PA Semi so it could design its own processor, and purchased Siri to make, well, Siri. In all of those cases, there was some lag time between the acquisition of the firm and the revelation of exactly what Apple was doing with the technology; if that holds true in this case, then a year or so from now, we’ll probably have the answer.
Apple did not respond to Macworld's request for comment as of this writing.
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