Samsung’s association with Immersion Corporation is not new and the South Korean company has used its haptics technology in some of its devices, which includes the Galaxy S III smartphone. However, on Thursday, March 7 the two companies further strengthened their ties as they announced that they have signed a multiyear licensing deal. The new contract would now enable Samsung to use the integrator and TouchSense technology from Immersion in its upcoming devices. On this occasion the CEO of Immersion, Victor Viegas said that, “We are very pleased by Samsung’s broad adoption of our haptic technology, and we believe that this agreement marks an important milestone in our strategy to monetize our technology more fully within the mobile market.”
Mr. Viegas also said that, “Having entered into this important customer agreement, we are now in a position to raise our 2013 guidance, as we expect revenues for the year to be in the range of $44 million to $48 million. In addition, while we continue to anticipate increased spending related to our efforts to defend and monetize our IP, we expect Adjusted EBITDA for 2013 to be in the range of $12 million to $15 million.”
The two technologies, TouchSense and Integrator, work together and they are illustrated by Immersion as an alternative for OEMs “that automatically add haptics into the Android UI and applications and provides an easy way to customize the overall tactile feel of the device.” Besides this the press release has also revealed that the agreement between the two companies will include “a patent license covering Samsung’s prior and future use of simple forms of haptic effects, sometimes referred to as Basic Haptics, in its smartphones and other mobile devices.”
The latest development clearly indicates that Samsung is striving hard to outshine its California-based rival, Apple that has always dominated the Korean company in the past. However, after losing a patent case to Apple it appears that Samsung has decided to introduce new technology in its devices that Apple has not been able to tap so far and signing a multiyear deal with Immersion Corporation appears to be a part of this plan.
Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S IV may prove a good example in this regard as rumour has it the new Galaxy will boast an eye-scrolling feature that will allow users to read text on the phone without using their hands.
Source: EON, 9to5Google
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