Update: It’s certainly not been a quiet and uneventful Friday in the technology world, after Samsung was forced to deny claims that it acquired Fingerprint Cards AB, a Swedish company that develops biometric components and technologies for fingerprint identification.
An initial press release from Fingerprint Cards announced it has been acquired by Samsung. No sooner had many people begun to suggest Samsung was following in Apple’s footprints, a second press release was issued, dismissing the first announcement and the deal itself as “incorrect”.
Samsung also spoke out to confirm that the deal is a “groundless rumor,” while Fingerprint Cards says it is reporting the incident to police and financial authorities.
This post and its title have been updated – the original version is below, as it was when published.
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Fingerprint Cards AB, a Swedish company that develops biometric components and technologies for fingerprint identification, has seemingly announced it has been acquired by Samsung.
The “definitive agreement”, according to the press release, will see Samsung part with $650m in cash to take the company on board, and will likely see Samsung start to implement swipe sensor technology across a broader range of products.
We’ve reached out to Samsung for confirmation on this deal, and will update when we hear back.
When Apple recently introduced touch ID fingerprint scanning with the iPhone 5s, we noted that it would kick-off a biometric adoption race. Indeed, if Fingerprint Cards does indeed become a new business division within Samsung in the wake of any deal, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise, but until we get official confirmation from Samsung on this deal, we’ll be treating this with caution.
➤ Samsung Electronics to acquire Fingerprint Cards AB
Headline image via JOSEP LAGO/Getty Images
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