Apple to Buy AuthenTec for $356 Million

Apple has quietly offered to buy publicly held AuthenTec Inc for roughly $356 million, according to an SEC filing discovered last Friday. Fourteen-year-old AuthenTec does sensor-based fingerprint authentication, encryption and identity management for mobile devices. Two weeks ago AuthenTec signed up Samsung, which Apple is suing for patent infringement, to use its VPN widgetry in its new Android-based Galaxy smartphones and tablets. There was speculation the alliance provoked Apple to act.

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