Apple has reportedly acquired one-man start-up SnappyLabs, creator of the popular SnappyCam camera app.
The app allows iPhone users to shoot up to 30 full-res frames a second, exceeding the 10 frames a second offered by the iPhone’s own built-in camera software. SnappyCam also incorporates a 6X lossless digital zoom feature and offers a variety of aspect ratios for images.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, SnappyLab’s founder – Aussie John Papandriopoulos – told Fairfax Media in September 2013 that he was in talks with several “Internet giants” regarding a buyout, while sources close to the matter told TechCrunch over the weekend that Apple has secured a deal, though it’s not known how much the Cupertino company paid.
“In terms of commercial interest in SnappyCam, there’s been quite a bit actually, which has been great in many ways,” Papandriopoulos told Fairfax Media last year, adding, “I’ve spent the last couple of weeks exploring different opportunities in that regard but it’s still a little early to really say anything about it.”
The $1 app recently disappeared from the iTunes store, and the company’s website has been taken down. Associated Twitter accounts have been locked and the company’s Facebook account has been deleted, too. Such moves are par for the course following an acquisition of this nature.
Papandriopoulos, 35, is an electrical engineering PhD from the University Of Melbourne and currently works out of San Francisco. He released the SnappyCam app in the summer of 2012, with Apple likely to integrate its technology into the iPhone’s iSight camera, which introduced burst-mode shooting with the launch of the 5S model in September last year.
Smartphone camera technology has come on leaps and bounds recently, with tech companies continuing to view a handset’s shooter as a key selling point in a phone’s arsenal of features.
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