We get many announcements of corporate alliances and licensing deals crossing our desk every day, but the one between Valencell and Samsung looks particularly provocative.
Valencell makes interesting biometric sensor sets that sit in the ear. If you’ve got earbuds that count steps or track your pulse rate, odds are good that they use Valencell tech. But there aren’t many of them, and the ones that do exist have been pretty small or specialized.
Samsung is neither small nor specialized, although they have not been shy about throwing products into the market and seeing what will stick. It appears that Samsung uses the Valencell patents in its Gear IconX cordless fitness buds, a product we did not know existed until Valencell told us about it.
No price tag for the license was disclosed.