The deal will see Leap Motion’s sensors and software packaged with some “high-end” laptops and PCs. The bundled products will appear in the first quarter of 2013, says Leap, around the same time the standalone Leap Motion device, priced at $70, is due to begin shipping.
”), and it is plausible that some people may find them easier to perform using their fingers in the air than with a mouse.Leap Motion has impressed journalists and gadget fans with in-person and online demonstrations of its technology, but its biggest challenge will be persuading software developers to add gestural controls to their applications. Without that, people that do buy a Leap Motion device will have little they can do with it.
The deal with Asus, one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers, could help. “We want developers to feel confident that there’s going to be a significant market around Leap,” says Buckwald. His company plans to operate an app store where users can buy, and developers can sell, LeapMotion-enabled software. By the time the Asus-Leap bundles reach consumers, a first wave of apps will be available, says Buckwald.
The Leap device is roughly the size of a pack of gum: three inches long, one inch wide and half an inch thick. One side is black glass, under which are two small cameras and a handful of infrared LEDs gather the data needed to track fingers to an accuracy of one hundredth of a millimeter.
Buckwald says that the same functionality could be added to even smaller devices. “Even today, it is possible to put Leap into a tablet or smartphone,” he says, by using smaller sensors. “The accuracy and power will stay the same.”
Leap also announced a new round of investment funding, taking the total raised by the company from $15 million to $45 million. “The main reason was to support a very dramatic ramping up in our manufacturing,” says Buckwald.
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