Apple buys facial recognition company Polar Rose, to counter Googles Goggles

September 21, 2010 2:22 PM EDT

Apple acquired facial recognition software maker, Polar Rose Face, a Swedish start-up in a bid to beat Google's Goggles.

Reports emerging from a Norwegian Apple Blog called Mac 1 suggested that Apple bought the fifteen-person company that offers computer vision software.

The company's FaceCloud server platform allows social networks and vendors to add facial recognition feature to any website, its FaceLib mobile face recognition library is specifically made for Android and iPhone platforms and its FaceCore is its cloud-based service that allows face recognition software as a service.

TechCrunch reported that Polar Rose was previously majority-owned by Danish private equity fund Nordic Venture Partners. Apple has bought the rights for $29 million.

In August Google acquired Like.com a visual search company start-up to leverage its visual recognition capabilities. Currently, Google offers a feature Goggles that allows users to use pictures taken with a mobile phone to search the web, a perfect blend for Like.com's technology.

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Apple could leverage on the technology as a differentiator for its products. Goggles is not available in Apple Apps Store thus Apple envisions to create a similar native feature for its devices. The technology can be integrated with social network sites and location-based services to create new features. For instance, a picture of a street taken by a mobile phone can be used to find direction with GPS and for advertisement purposes through location-based technology.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader