Microsoft Corporation will buy Perceptive Pixel, Inc, a maker of multi-touch interactive displays, according to Perceptive Pixel who announced the deal this week at a conference in Toronto.
Perceptive Pixel, whose touch screens can handle multiple users at the same time, can also run the soon to be released Microsoft operating system, Windows 8, which will be released later this year.
News Broadcaster CNN and oil-services provider Schlumberger Ltd. already use Perceptive Pixel’s 82-inch multi-touch interactive display. Top-secret defense and government projects are also some of Perceptive Pixel’s most notable customers.
Microsoft hopes, according to CEO Steve Ballmer, that they will be able to make the multi-touch interactive technology more affordable. Currently, the 82-inch multi-touch display starts at $80,000.
Working together with Microsoft, Perceptive Pixel hopes to drop the price of their large touch screens and make their multi-touch technology more mainstream, according to Perceptive Pixel founder Jeff Han.
Giovanni Mezgec, a Microsoft general manager, said that the acquisition is set to close by the end of the summer. However, he declined to give a specific month or how much the touch screens will start at after the acquisition is finalized. 
