14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is believed to have acquired Im-Sense, a portfolio company of Braveheart Investment Group, in a move that strengthened the iPhone 4’s position a photography tool, via the addition of a feature called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos.
The folks at MacRumors claim to have dug up some evidence (the report doesn’t specify whether it was on purpose, or accidental) that “Apple may have purchased a small Cambridge, UK-based company known as imsense for its expertise dealing with just this technology.”
The technology in question - dubbed by Im-Sense “eye-fidelity” - is likely what provides the iPhone 4 with the ability to take high-dynamic-range photos using software algorithms that remap image tones in order to recover details lost in underexposed or overexposed regions of photos.
Best of all, color balance is maintained, while the final images are generated at close to what is perceived by the human eye.
A video demonstration of what the technology is all about can be viewed here. It features Im-Sense CEO Philippe Dewost delivering a keynote presentation in 2009.
MacRumors points out to a note at the Braveheart Ventures web site (which reportedly backed Im-Sense), which mentions that the company was acquired by "an undisclosed trade buyer in July 2010".
The relevant pieces of text are reproduced below:
Braveheart Investment Group PLC (BRH.LN), a technology commercialization and investment management company, Friday announces that it has realized its investment in one of its portfolio companies, Im-Sense Ltd, as a result of the acquisition of that company by an undisclosed trade buyer for a cash consideration.
[…]
-Braveheart acquired its minority shareholding in Im-Sense, an image signal processing technology spin-out from the University of East Anglia, in June 2008 for a cost of GBP150,000 and will receive a cash consideration from the disposal of its investment of GBP342,000.
But perhaps the most valuable finding indicating that Im-Sense was, indeed, acquired by Apple, is that according to UK government filings made on September 6th, three of Apple's officers were named directors of Im-Sense as of July 15th, 2010, the same source reports.
These are Gary Wipfler (Treasurer), Betsy Rafael (Vice President, Corporate Controller and Principal Accounting Officer), and Gene Levoff (Corporate Counsel), according to the rumor-site, which adds that Levoff was also hired as Im-Sense’s secretary as of July 28th.
Not surprisingly, the appointments of other directors at Im-Sense have since been terminated, the report adds. Finally, the report informs that virtually all of the company’s web presence has been erased, with the exception of its Flickr account, which remains active for demonstration purposes.