Leap Motion sensors are smartphone and tablet bound
Leap Motion, the motion tracking, 3D space creating PC peripheral will be integrated within smartphones and tablets next year, the company has stated.
Having launched as a USB connected PC add-on earlier this year, Leap Motion Founder and CEO Michael Buckwald has told us he expects to see the Leap technology tackle portable devices within the next 12 months.
“We are just at the very, very beginning,” he said. “We expect that there will be tablets and phones in the market with Leap Motion technology embedded next year, probably Q3 or Q4.”
He added: “The module is already small enough to go into a tablet or a phone so we are there today in terms of the mechanical and physical part of the equation.”
Creating an eight cubic foot field of motion reading space, the Leap Motion peripheral allows your individual finger and gesture controls to be converted into 3D movements on your PC, and soon smartphone and tablet. Accompanied by an array of compatible apps, the device lets you manipulate and sculpt 3D shapes, play motion enabled games and pull apart educational items in true Minority Report fashion.
“I think for tablets and phones the primary user case is very similar to PC in that it will be about interacting with apps,” Buckwald said.
Speaking exclusive with TrustedReviews, he added: “We are working with several OEMs that we will probably announce next year.”
Looking to the benefits of Leap Motion enabled tablets he stated: “The tablet will be even better than the PC for Leap. Beacause it is still such a new form factor, people don’t have the same preconceptions about what a tablet is for. People see the PC as a productivity tool today but the tablet is about education and creativity and games and play.
“For tablet I think it’s about creating a three-dimensional experience for interacting with the device. There are some unique things that we are talking to OEMs about though. You could use that 3D space to control screens that are distant so you could use your Android phone to control a TV on the other side of the room using the space above it to control that TV.”
Suggesting that smartphones and tablets are the company’s future, the Leap Motion CEO added: “We have always wanted the technology to be wherever there is a computer. Although we started with PC, we want it to be in tablets and phones.”
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