Apple acquires fingerprint security company AuthenTec for $356 million. The deal will make AuthenTec wholly owned subsidiary of Apple.
According report from AllthingsD, “AuthenTec’s main stock in trade is fingerprint-sensor chips, and they’re used pretty widely across the industry. Hewlett-Packard is a customer, and offers its fingerprint scanners as an option on some notebooks.” The report also that that, “AuthenTec also has some solid meat-and-potato security products, as well. Samsung, for instance, chose AuthenTec’s VPN client to run on its smartphones and tablets.”
AuthenTec is said to have entered an Intellectual Property and Technology Agreement with Apple, allowing them to acquire non-exclusive licenses to Authentec’s hardware and software technologies, as well as its patent portfolio.
There’s also more money changing hands: Apple is paying $20 million for rights to certain patents, and then has an option to pay as much as $115 million for other patents it chooses.
Sources: AllthingsD, AuthenTec
