Is Apple Getting Into Face Recognition Too?

More news in the world of facial recognition – and to be honest, this doesn’t really come as a surprise. It seems that Apple has been buying out shares from a Swedish face recognition tech company called Polar Rose. Polar Rose uses a pretty similar technology to what Apple has been using in their OSX iPhoto application, but with Apple picking up the ownership, you have to wonder what they’re up to.

Fast Company’s blog is guessing that it might be for use in Apple’s popular iPhone. Apple fell behind Android in popularity during the second quarter, losing its number 3 spot to the Google smartphone. By scooping up Polar Rose’s shares, Apple can potentially give itself a boost in the competitive market, sealing off an avenue for Android.

Polar Rose uses Arctic Rose, their own proprietary face recognition technology, which is built into three different products they offer, some of which work with Android. But now that Apple is buying Polar Rose, who knows what new products the software might appear in as it slowly edges out Android.

Of course, there’s potential for Apple’s newfound face recognition technology in online social networks (Twitter and Facebook), but Fast Company’s post brings up an interesting use – that Apple might be interested in the technology for security benefits. Apple has been researching and patenting ideas recently in the sector of login security, and the post suggests they might want to recreate their smartphone as, essentially, a wireless enabled credit card.

They imagine an application in which you could scan your face from a live photo taken right there with the iPhone camera, and the image would positively ID you as owner of the phone. From there you might punch in a PIN or security code and pay wirelessly for the product. Of course, this is not the most secure approach for biometrics, but if Apple were to use a layered PIN system, says Fast Company, it might be effective and not necessarily require additional hardware features such as a fingerprint scanner, for example.

Apple Buys Polar Rose, Possible Eye On Face Recognition In iPhones

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