Telefonica Adds to Tech Investments

Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has added a stake in another new technology company as it builds up its roster of interests in innovative application developers. The latest acquisition, GestureTek, is described as a developer of "gesture-recognition" technology. The US-based outfit said that its system can be used in camera phones for navigation and gaming applications. The two companies said they will work together to further develop and commercialize GestureTek's applications, for both mobile and other platforms.

GestureTek, based on the West Coast of the US, has developed a software package called EyeMobile which apparently allows the camera on a mobile phone to recognize and respond to hand and body movements. This in turn enables mobile-phone users to navigate their way around menus or play games by moving or titling their phones.

The company recently launched its EyeMobile engine on several NTT DoCoMo 3G devices in Japan. The venture capital arm of NTT DoCoMo is also said to be an investor in the Californian company. GestureTek's technology powers the EyeToy USB camera accessory for Sony's PlayStation consoles. The new investment from Telefonica will be used to finance business expansion and market growth.