New Delhi: Apple's acquisitions for 2014 have begun with one-man photo technology startup SnappyLabs, maker of SnappyCam. The startup was founded and run solely by John Papandriopoulos, an electrical engineering PhD from the University Of Melbourne who invented a way to make the iPhone's camera take full-resolution photos at 20 to 30 frames per second — significantly faster than Apple's native iPhone camera.
According to TechCrunch, which first reported the acquisition: “Sources have since affirmed that the company was acquired by Apple, and that there was also acquisition interest from most of the usual players,” meaning other tech giants.
Earlier in July, SnappyCam was upgraded with new technology, detailed in a now-deleted blog post. The post explained how Papandriopoulos was able to redesign how JPG images are compressed, letting the iPhone to shoot full-quality burst mode photographs at significant higher frames per second than other competing technologies.
The acquisition also fits Apple's acquisition strategy, as the company looks at strategic acquisition of an extremely lean, hard technology-focused team, rather than company having big staff.
Bringing Papandriopoulos in-house would mean that Cupertino-based Apple can now build this technology and more into its iPhone, iPad, Mac, and MacBook cameras. Since photography is one of the most attractive points of any modern-day smartphone, offering a high-resolution, rapid-fire burst mode shooting could become a selling point for iPhones over competing phones.
