Google buys Bumptop

Posted on 4 May 2010 at 11:46

Google has purchased three-dimensional user interface specialist Bumptop.

The announcement of the deal, made on Bumptop's blog, was first spotted by the Wellington Financial Blog and indicates that Google has purchased Bumptop outright for an as-yet unknown sum.

Bumptop has been producing a three-dimensional user interface designed to offer a more natural way of interacting with a computer for some time, but as part of the deal will cease to release its products - and leave those who were hoping to make use of the innovations the company has produced out in the cold.

The deal - along with the decision to cease offering its products independently - indicates that Google could be looking to integrate Bumptop's technologies into its own operating systems. While the most likely explanation would be that the company is planning to give is Chrome netbook-oriented operating system an overhaul, it's possible that Google could implement the Bumptop system into its Android mobile operating system.

A three-dimensional multi-touch user interface - especially one which uses data from the accelerometers built into modern smartphones - could be the feature that gives Google's Android the boost it needs to knock Apple's iPhone OS off the top spot.

So far, Google has been completely silent on the deal - and beside the terse message posted to its own site, Bumptop hasn't offered any comment as to what the deal could mean for the technologies the company has developed.

Author: Gareth Halfacree

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