Apple's Acquisition of AR Startup Leap Motion Fell Through Twice, Due to 'Eccentric' Founders and Poor Management

[coolfactor]

Holtz's attitude is a good example of how different people view the same thing from very different vantage points. I think someone with his attitude will never be able to see things from a different angle without a dramatic transformation. I had a similar perception of Microsoft for many years until the company came under new management and started doing things very differently. It no longer had that "poor taste" perception. However, the damage has been done. No matter how "pretty" that they make Windows, I'll never have the trust in the operating system that I have in macOS. Windows just feels "dirty" to me, with expectations that I'll come across applications, er.. "programs", that just don't follow a consistent design language, or are completely unreliable.

Sad that Holtz can't see the truth about Apple. His perception that Apple is not innovating is pure false. Unlike 99% of the Android camp, Apple is moving mountains on several fronts at once... hardware, software and services. The end result is the truly exceptional experience that only Apple has been able to deliver year after year, but not without a few missteps. Eventually, they correct their ways, like with the new Mac mini and MacBook Air releases (high price aside).

 

[budselectjr]

Didn't I already see this covered in a season of Silicon Valley?

People think it’s a parody but it's really not. It's all true.

 

[Seoras]

"...and had already started talks with the startup's human resources department and sent out offer letters to employees.."
Which was what Apple was really after.
I wonder how many of those employees will just quit and join Apple now that they've seen what's on offer.

"...that Apple was no longer innovative, its technology "sucked," and discussed the ways that Google's Android was better than iOS.."
As an Apple user I never feel the need to dis Android & Google. I'm happy where I am.
There's a lot of insecurity in some of those who use the alternative to need to go on attacks like this.
I don't really understand it and I find it tiresome.

 

[coolfactor]

Perhaps Apple realize the AR hype has fizzled.

Plus, Apple prefer to bankrupt companies and pick them up for cheap like what they've attempted/done to Qualcomm, Dialog Semiconductor, Imagination Technologies, GT Advanced, etc.

AR is just beginning, and your belief that Apple is deliberately trying to bankrupt companies is purely false. Yes, that is my biased opinion that Apple's Board of Directors are good people infused with heart and wisdom rather than contempt and corruption.

 

[carlob]

From a company founder and CEO's perspective, getting sucked up into the Apple void, to lose all control of your life's dream, to be told what to do by "managers" that know less about your technology than you do, to ultimately quit the company due to "irreconcilable differences" doesn't sound like a happy way to follow one's life dream.
There's plenty of historic presidence of this happening at Apple. The founders of Siri are one example.

Not bad if you've got a couple of millions in the pocket tough

 

[rafark]

So what? Not everyone's dream is to be part of Apple. If they didn't want to sell their company for whatever reasons they had it's their problem. So everyone that rejects the supreme leaders at Apple is eccentric now? What kind of logic is that?

 

[laptech]

Leap Motion obviously have Intellectual property that Apple is after hence wanting to buy the company rather than steal it's design team. Look at Apple's humble beginning's, it's a who's who of ex Xerox employees.

 

[iop]

Dummies

Just because they didn't sell out to Apple? Remember Siri? It used to belong to an independent company, and then Apple acquired it. And now Siri is garbage.

 

[cmaier]

Just because they didn't sell out to Apple? Remember Siri? It used to belong to an independent company, and then Apple acquired it. And now Siri is garbage.

1) Siri is better now than it was as part of SRI
2) No, not "just because they didn't sell out to Apple." If you read the articles on them, you'll see that they are not doing great, and selling to Apple may have been the only way for them to monetize what's left of their company, for the benefit of the employees and investors.

 

[unlovbl]

It's encouraging to see capitalist Darwinism still working well in some corners of this world.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I had the 'privilege' of working with Leap Motion hardware and software for a project many years ago, in early 2013. While it was quite interesting technology, the dev kit was extremely limited and they were *really* against opening it up. We could have done so much more if we'd had access to the 'raw' data that the Leap motion detected but I suspect Leap were so worried that someone might be able to reverse engineer their stuff that they refused to do so. It felt like Leap had something really interesting there but were so paranoid and so up their own arses that they'd rather lose out on *any* use case more interesting than very simple hand gestures than risk anyone else finding out what their secret sauce was. The daft thing was, it was quite clear that there wasn't anything more advanced in their solution than had been used in the Xbox Kinect or other 3d tracking devices.

It's as if the creators/owners of Leap were absolutely convinced that at some point everyone would wake up and realise they couldn't live without vague hand gestures at a desktop. They could have achieved so much if they'd just embraced more interesting setups i.e. as soon as they saw VR, they should have rushed a wide angled Leap Motion to market, that could have been attached to VR headsets. It took them *years* to even release their own VR mount for their existing low field of view device when third parties had experimented with it long before. They're so slow to innovate and so behind the curve, it's astounding that they're still even around. For something that's meant be such an innovative product, the company is incredibly narrow minded. I suspect their long term goal is to become a patent troll company as other companies start releasing products that use apparently similar technology.

 

[bandalay]

Sounds like a bad episode of Silicon Valley…

 

[Scottsoapbox]

Given Apple's history of bullying suppliers and acquisition targets, this could simply be Apple speak for 'wouldn't bend over'.

 

[bdkennedy1]

I have a friend that left my company to work for Apple in quality assurance He says it’s torture.

A new article by Business Insider today takes a look into failed talks that occurred between Apple and startup Leap Motion, which the Cupertino company tried to acquire twice in less than five years. Leap Motion is a company that focuses on making advances in the fields of virtual reality, augmented reality, and hand tracking technology.

According to multiple unnamed insiders, the most recent deal was nearing completion in spring 2018 before poor management, "swirling negatives," and "eccentric behavior" of Leap Motion's young co-founders Michael Buckwald and David Holz halted the talks.

Prior to that, in 2013 the first meeting was held between the two companies and things reportedly went very poorly after Holz -- then 24 years old -- said he had no interest in joining Apple. Sources say Holz was insulting to Apple's staff, told the company representatives that Apple was no longer innovative, its technology "sucked," and discussed the ways that Google's Android was better than iOS. During this time, Apple was said to have been mainly interested in Leap Motion's team to help work on its own AR and gesture-based projects.

Despite this poor first meeting, Apple continued to express interest in acquiring Leap Motion in the ensuing years, particularly as augmented reality and virtual reality technologies began to be more mainstream. Some of Leap Motion's original employees even left the company to work for Apple over the years, and are now helping with Apple's various AR projects, some former Leap Motion employees said.

The latest rumors point towards Apple developing AR smart glasses, which could potentially include a VR component. Apple's interest appears to lean more towards AR, since it has already backed AR as a service with the ARKit developer platform, and CEO Tim Cook often talks excitedly about the potential of AR.

Because of this, Apple made another attempt to acquire Leap Motion earlier this year, but talks fell through once again. Apple was on the verge of acquiring Leap Motion for between $30 million and $50 million in the spring, and had already started talks with the startup's human resources department and sent out offer letters to employees. As Leap Motion celebrated the upcoming acquisition, Apple pulled its offer.

Business Insider says it remains unclear why exactly Apple made this move at the last minute, but one thing appears certain: "the founders ultimately thought [Leap Motion] was more valuable than the offers on the table."
Now, Leap Motion is said to have new meetings lined up to explore other potential deals outside of Apple's offer, but it may be too late for the startup. According to sources familiar with the company, Apple's latest bid for Leap Motion was the AR/VR company's "last-ditch opportunity" to sell the business, which has faced financial instability for years.

Apple makes acquisitions of smaller companies like Leap Motion all the time, with news coming just in the past month of Apple acquiring Asaii and Spektral. Asaii is a music analytics platform that Apple will likely integrate into Apple Music and iTunes, while Spektral creates real-time green screens that can intelligently separate people and objects from their original backgrounds to overlay a new setting, which could be integrated into a future iPhone.

Article Link: Apple's Acquisition of AR Startup Leap Motion Fell Through Twice, Due to 'Eccentric' Founders and Poor Management

 

[Attirex]

Leap Motion sues Apple for stealing IP/trade/NDA protected info in 3...2....

 

[lec0rsaire]

This is what happens when you never grow out of the Microsucks, M$, Apple is evil phase. He just screwed over all of his employees and himself. Total business malpractice.

 

[redman042]

I preordered and purchased one of the Leap Motion sensors at the first release, thinking it would be fun to play with and something entirely new. After a week, it ended up in a drawer, where it still sits. I don't hear much about Leap apps or advancements these days, so I'm not surprised to hear they are on the ropes and need to sell.

 

[isomorphic]

I preordered and purchased one of the Leap Motion sensors at the first release, thinking it would be fun to play with and something entirely new. After a week, it ended up in a drawer, where it still sits. I don't hear much about Leap apps or advancements these days, so I'm not surprised to hear they are on the ropes and need to sell.

I bought a Leap Motion sensor immediately when it became available through general distribution. I used it for one-two days, then returned it and got my money back.

Leap had some very interesting tech that was still in beta. I'm not paying to be a beta tester; I can use Windows for that.

Taking interesting alpha/beta tech, refining it, and making it part of a larger ecosystem so that it is useful to the end-user--that's the thing big, old, boring (!), well-capitalized companies do. If they're any good, that is.

 

[Wowereit]

I think AR sucks and I have no interest in it. I honestly can't quite understand why Apple is pushing it so much when the use cases are novelty at best.

Imagine not having to look at a screen, because the content gets inserted right into your viewing field via glasses.

Of course this would look like total garbage with today's technology and battery life would be about 30 minutes, but give it a decade or so, then 2 to 3 mediocre generations for early adopters and you finally might get something that could easily replace most of your other tech gear.

Or it will flop and disappear besides niche applications. You really don't know.
Spending a billion or two to avoid being late to the party that could potentially end all your other products isn't a bad idea.

 

[inkswamp]

LOL. Just because you don’t like some of their design decisions doesn’t mean apple is the evil empire. They are the most valuable company on Earth, and clawed their way up from near ruin. When you liked what they were doing, they were probably almost out of business. Clearly they are making many millions of people happy with their products and services; far more than they made happy in the past.

You've completely mischaracterized my comment. I said nothing about Apple being an evil empire.

And no, I was ready to jump ship on Apple in the late 90s until I saw signs that they were getting their act together with the return of Jobs and axed the old Mac OS in favor of a Unix-based OS.

So, you think Apple is perfect right now and above reproach? When a company has failed to update some of their main products in as many as 4 years, it's really beyond debate at that point. And no, that doesn't make them evil. I'm surprised at how knee-jerk the defenses of Apple can be. When they do great stuff, we should cheer them on. When they screw up, it's okay to stop cheering and ask what the problem is. And multiple years of no updates on some Macs is very definitely a screw up.

 

[klymr]

I preordered and purchased one of the Leap Motion sensors at the first release, thinking it would be fun to play with and something entirely new. After a week, it ended up in a drawer, where it still sits. I don't hear much about Leap apps or advancements these days, so I'm not surprised to hear they are on the ropes and need to sell.

Ha, same. I was actually going through a box in the garage just last night when I came across my Leap Motion controller. It ended up back on the shelf...again.

 

[Mike4AU]

Well. Paying lousy salaries is what Apple does, so naturally this article must state that "costly engineering salaries" are a bad thing...

Could you give some specific examples of those lousy salaries? I would like to know more. Thanks

 

[cmaier]

You've completely mischaracterized my comment. I said nothing about Apple being an evil empire.

And no, I was ready to jump ship on Apple in the late 90s until I saw signs that they were getting their act together with the return of Jobs and axed the old Mac OS in favor of a Unix-based OS.

So, you think Apple is perfect right now and above reproach? When a company has failed to update some of their main products in as many as 4 years, it's really beyond debate at that point. And no, that doesn't make them evil. I'm surprised at how knee-jerk the defenses of Apple can be. When they do great stuff, we should cheer them on. When they screw up, it's okay to stop cheering and ask what the problem is. And multiple years of no updates on some Macs is very definitely a screw up.

“So you think apple is perfect” is what we in the English industry call a “straw-man.”

 

[szw-mapple fan]

I see people reacting negatively to this but there is some truth to it, and it's good to see that there are people willing to tell the executives at Apple the unvarnished truth. Apple has been phoning it in for a long time now.

And in case we've all forgotten in the rush to denounce any tech people showing disrespect to Apple, Steve Jobs wasn't exactly cuddling up to corporate tech companies in his early days. The next Steve Jobs won't be a corporate suck-up.

And neither was Apple in dire need of cash in those days. It’s all well and good to be a rebel when you have a profitable startup basically from the start but if an acquisition deal was your lifeline you probably shouldn’t be insulting them to their face.

 

[WhoDaKat]

No to $30 - $50 million? Ok, we'll just poach all the good employees and buy your intellectual property for pennies on the dollar. Good call guys.