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Friday, June 1, 2012

FACEBOOK TO BUY FACE RECOGNITION FIRM FACE.COM!

Social networking giant Facebook may be planning to acquire a face recognition technology company, a tech site reported Monday night (Manila time).

The Next Web cited a report by Israeli business publication Calcalist that Facebook is planning to buy technology company Face.com.

It also cited a separate article on tech news blog Newsgeek that the deal could involve between $80 and $100 million.

"Founded in 2007, Face.com offers accurate facial recognition software that could help Facebook users identify people in photos faster, both on desktop and mobile," The Next Web said.

But it also said that as of now, there is not much to back up the story with.

Still, it said Face.com has long been rumored to be an acquisition target for Facebook, even way before there was talk about Facebook going public.

"From what we heard, negotiations between the two companies have been held a number of times over the years, but Face.com has so far rebuffed offers because of the ‘low’ price Facebook was willing to pay. We’ll see if this deal ever gets inked," it said.

The Next Web said Face.com built a popular Facebook application itself called Photo Tagger, which lets people scan their or their friends’ photo albums for known faces.

Recently, it launched a mobile facial recognition app for iOS called KLIK.

The start-up also operates a platform of its own by offering a public API, The Next Web said.

For its part, Facebook just launched a camera app for the iPhone of its own, and acquired Instagram.

It is also rumored to be building its own smartphone and is rumored to be interested in acquiring Opera Software to gain cross-platform browser products and expertise. — LBG

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