Apple Acquires Motion-Capture Company

Apple (AAPL) made an interesting move on Tuesday, announcing that it plans to acquire Faceshift, a Swiss motion-capture company that was used in Star Wars.

The company’s software was used to make characters in the upcoming film look more lifelike, but that’s not the original purpose of the tool. Rather, it’s focused on augmented reality, or the ability to create animated avatars that capture a person’s real-time facial expressions. It’s actually quite amazing; check out a demo here.

The why

It’s really not clear as to why Apple decided to snap up the Zurich-based startup. As with most of its acquisitions, Apple responded to requests with its customary statement: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”

The biggest reason may be its strong suit in facial recognition. Apple has been revolutionary in the smartphone industry with its security, introducing the iPhone 5s with a fingerprint scanner. However, it has yet to introduce facial recognition security, which has been with Android for some time.

With virtual reality becoming more and more popular, Faceshift could give Apple an edge over the competition. And can you imagine being able to FaceTime someone with a perfectly animated avatar?

Why this is important

Apple has been struggling as of late — well, Apple struggling is relative. A better way to say it is that Apple hasn’t been living up to Wall Street’s high expectations lately. The company’s stock is down almost 9% over the last six months, fresh off all-time highs for quarterly profitability.

The problem is that Apple is struggling to find a way to make up for slumping iPad sales. Sure, the iPhone continues to generate the majority of the company’s revenue, but having one product that drives more than 60% of a company’s revenue is risky, even for a product as popular as its flagship smartphone.