Dec 18 2009
Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ:ATML), a leader in microcontroller- and touch-based solutions, and Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR), the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology today announced that Atmel has licensed Immersion’s TouchSense technology to deliver products with integrated haptic feedback.
Atmel will integrate this functionality into its touch product families to offer users an enhanced experience in consumer products including mobile phones, game consoles, navigation devices, cameras, Netbooks, appliances, PCs and peripherals.
Incorporating numerous proprietary mechanical, electrical, software, and firmware technologies, Immersion's TouchSense touch feedback technology more fully involves the sense of touch to make the user experience with digital devices more efficient, intuitive, safer and more accurate. Atmel will apply this technology to its touch products to support capacitive touch buttons, sliders, wheels and touchscreens.
“As a leader in touch solutions, Atmel’s integration of our technology is great validation of our ability to utilize ecosystem partners to assist us with scale,” said Craig Vachon, senior vice president and general manager of Immersion's Touch line of business. “We’re seeing real momentum in the market as consumers increasingly come to expect haptic effects in touch interfaces and enabled at the IC-level. Using feedback to enrich the sense of touch is key to great user experiences and is quickly approaching mainstream.”
“Enabling our customers to develop products with best-in-class user interfaces has always been a focus for Atmel,” said Peter Jones, managing director of Atmel's microcontroller business unit. “By adding Immersion’s innovative haptics technology to our QTouch and maXTouch products, designers will now have enhanced user features to apply to their system solutions. We are pleased to be working with Immersion, a world-class leader in the haptics space, to create a better user experience for our customers.”