Earlier this month, Microsoft announced it was planning to buy Perceptive Pixel, which makes large touch screen devices, as part of its Worldwide Partner Conference. Today, Microsoft confirmed that the deal to acquire the company has officially closed. Specific financial terms of the deal were not announced.
In a post on the official Microsoft blog, it was revealed that Perceptive Pixel founder Jeff Han will now be part of Microsoft as a general manager and that the company itself will now be under the Microsoft Office division. Giovanni Mezgec, the general manager of the Office division, states:
We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome PPI to the Microsoft Office Division. PPI’s expertise in hardware, software and thought leadership will contribute to success in broad scenarios such as collaboration, meetings and presentations.
Perceptive Pixel was founded in 2006 and makes touch screen hardware that gets as big as 82 inches in size. Microsoft used the company"s hardware to show off the Windows 8 touch screen features at previous press events; Perceptive Pixel will continue to make its hardware under its new Microsoft umbrella.
Perceptive Pixel was charging up to $80,000 for its big displays but during the Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hinted that the display could be priced lower with their new parent company, saying, "Our challenge is to make that technology more affordable."
Source: Official Microsoft blog | Image via Microsoft