The Gestural Interface

While everyone is focused on high-profile IPOs like Groupon, Zynga, and, of course, Facebook, a stealthier IPO has made sharp-eyed speculators a bunch of money, and, more importantly, has some interesting implications for the direction of gaming, mobile, TV, and PCs.  InvenSense (INVN), according to their website and SEC filings, “designs, develops, markets, and sells micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes for motion processing solutions in consumer electronics. The company delivers next-generation motion processing based on its advanced multi-axis gyroscope technology…”  INVN’s initial price last November was $7.50. While  it didn’t have a spectacular “first-day pop” like LinkedIn and, presumably, Facebook, it moved up steadily to a recent high of $19.34, and hovers around $18.50 now. 

So what’s interesting about InvenSense, beside the fact that it’s been a double for traders? InvenSense is one of the firms that’s providing the underlying motion-sensing capabilities that enable the “gestural interface” that’s driven some of the most engaging applications on Nintendo’s WII, Apple’s iPhone, and the next generation of digital cameras. The gaming implications are obvious, as gamers evolve from the 40-year-old joystick paradigm to a lifelike gesture-based interaction with games and virtual environments. The iPhone’s ability to sense the orientation of the device and adapt the interface in real time is a trivial example of coming attractions, as we see motion and gestures controlling image stabilization, application interfaces, and experience vast improvements in GPS navigation and location-based services. When your phone knows not only where you are, but whether you’re looking up, down or sideways, the possibility of true “Minority Report”-style navigation and marketing moves closer to reality. As both Apple and Google begin to plot their strategies in the Smart TV space, gestural navigation through menus, channels, and content can deliver real differentiation.

Whether you’re an investor looking for the next under-the-radar double, or a gearhead trying to predict what the next gen of tech toys will deliver, it’s often profitable to look beyond the hyped mega-offerings and explore some of the innovative firms, like InvenSense, that could form the foundation of the human-machine relationship to come.